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Dominican Republic Wedding Reviews and Informatiom



New hotels, new destinations, new services and facilities... In Riu Hotels, we work to enhance our leisure offer every day, to offer you a hotel chain which is evolving, coming ever closer to your demands.
   Resort Wedding Stories   —   Complete List of Wedding Reviews on Page 1

Barcelo Bavaro Beach — 5
Bavaro Princess — 6
Barcelo Punta Cana — 3
Coral Hamaca — 2
Grand Bahia Principe Bavaro/Punta Cana — 7
Grand Paradise Bavaro — 2
Jellyfish Restaurant — 1
Ocean Blue/Sand — 2
Paradisus — 1
Paradisus Palma Real — 7
Punta Cana Princess — 2
Riu Bachata — 3
Riu Bambu — 1
Riu Mambo — 1
Riu Merengue — 1
Riu Palace Macao — 5
Sunscape Casa Del Mar — 2
Viva Wyndham Playa Dorada — 2


Viva Wyndham Playa DoradaJason ~ Canada
February 2009

First DO NOT Go any hotel in the area of Playa Dorado ESPECIALLY VIVA WYDHAM PLAYA DORADO to get married. The civil judge was 2 and half hours LATE for a SUNSET wedding!!! Who also we were TOLD(probably more LIES)?? IS THE ONLY MAN TO MARRY ANY ONE IN PLAYA DORADO. Did not ever say hello or SORRY!!! Just slurred his way through 1 simple page of vows and could not get it right, Calling the groom the wife. And then he vanished into the night with all His $$$.

There were problems ight from check in with only 8 people to start, rooms were wrong no VIP bracelets for bride and groom for 2 days.

The wedding Co ordinator for Viva Wyndham was of NO Help what so ever. She resorted to Crying in front of the bride on the HER wedding day several times to make the bride feel sorry for her the co ordinator.

This Hotel VIVA WYNDHAM PLAYA DORADO should NOT Advertise Having wedding Ceremonies. Because They DO NOT have the STAFF or MANAGEMENT Capable of performing such an easy task. For 21 QUEST who forked out about $ 40,000 in total.

- Wedding was for 5:00 GROOM was down at the beach at 4:00, in the hours time no one was trying to get any thing ready for 5.

- By 5 the tent was still not decorated with flowers etc. No wedding cake.
Even if the judge was at the beach for 5 the hotel was not ready for the ceremony.

- BRIDE ready to leave room at 5 when she is told the judge was going to be late.

- BRIDE decided to come down to the beach at 5:30 as we were losing light.
This is what we wanted a sunset wedding for our pictures.

- BRIDE & GROOM & the photographer decide to get what pictures we can so we take pictures with the groom while the bride is hiding then the bride took pictures while the groom hide.

- Boutonnieres for groom and groom mens were given to us late

- Because of this there were no pictures of the bride and groom taken together also missing with was the brides father for pictures with the groom.

- Pictures of bride and groom were taken the next day as it was too dark to get any sun-setting beach pictures.

- While waiting for the judge the bar was shut down and not serving drinks to our 19 quests. So some of our quests went to purchase drinks from the plaza next door.

- While waiting for the judge it became very dark so we asked to have the one flood light already up in a tree to come on for our wedding this did not come on until after we were married.

- The Tiki lights that were set up for the ceremony only 4 worked the rest had no fuel or wicks.

- So one of our quests ran to their room where they happened to have tea lights which we put in wine glasses for light.

- Judge shows up over 2 and a half hours late.

- No lights ready for ceremony no microphone for people to here judge or translator.

- There was a different translator than what was promised. Because wedding co ordinator could not keep it together!

- Our quests served the champagne to our party.

- Father of the bride paid extra $10 a person over 10 quests for the champagne and cake service that we provided ourselves

. - Promised private 1 hour at the beach restaurant for our party did not happen.

- Other quests were being served during our ceremony at restaurant.

- The day after we took pictures of the bride and groom on the beach. Could not do it with the wedding party as 5 quests had already left for the airport early the next day.

- In the wedding package we were to keep our room for a late check out but were kicked out for V.I.P.'s ??????

- The quest service manager understood we and our quests were unhappy and did not know how to handle the situation. We were offered to have one excursion for Bride and Groom which we did ask for a helicopter ride which did not happen in 5 days.

Several times we and our parents asked to talk to a manager we were continued to be push away and not dealt with. One day while walking back to the hotel with a staff member he pointed out what we were told was an assistant manager we talked to him about speaking to the manager but nothing seemed to happen except being ignored by him for the rest of our time at the resort. This happened again when the animation manger asked to speak with the bride & groom and our mothers and one other quest to his office where he asked what we could do to make us happy. He offered a week free at the resort and our helicopter excursion, and said he would talk to the manager.
We were than ignored again by him for the rest of our stay, with no answers.

On our last day we talked to the quest service manager In the morning with no more answers but wanted a meeting for 2 in the afternoon being told we would meet the REAL Manager? I told her we would be at the beach if the manager wanted to talk to us. 3 o'clock she came down to the beach asked to come to meet the manger in his office. As we the bride and groom along with the grooms father walked to the office we sat down, than were told that this would not be where we would be meeting him. We waited for 15 minutes and told that he was busy, then we left and told them that if he wanted to talk to us we were at the beach.

2 hours left in our stay and Chantal was followed into the washroom by the quest service manager asking to come meet with the manager again.

We feel we were lead along from the time of our wedding to the time we left.
Just pushed aside on several occasions. The groom feels liked he was ignored and the bride feels to have been preyed on when not with her groom. Wasting our holiday time that we paid for. All our time wasted and in 6 days we did not see or talk to or hear from A REAL Manager.

We the bride and groom have worked in the hospitality industry for over 15 years and have been in several managerial positions including running hotels in 3 different countries. A number of our other quests work in the hospitality industry as well and all of us agree that this is the worst display of customer relations anyone has seen. If anyone of us acted as the So Called Manager of Viva Wyndham Playa Dorada did to 21 quest spending tens of thousands for holidays and a wedding. Let alone would you lose your job but you would be lucky to ever work in the hospitality industry again.

- Everything that had happened and said in this letter can be confirmed by anyone of our 21 quests and has been documented in letters from the hotel for the wedding, and in video & thousands of pictures.

- Viva Wyndham Playa Dorado Should NOT advertise any sort of wedding package to be paid for, Plus Paying For Extras.

We as a bride and groom feel cheated and lied to. And Do Not Wish this to happen to anyone else in the future on their Wedding Day, so please pass along to anyone thinking of getting married in the Dominican.

Because we will never get this day back, and Our Day Was RUINED by VIVA WYNDHAM Playa Dorado.

BIG THANKS to BELKIS the photographer who was more help to us on our wedding day and after then anyone else. She does not work for VIVA??? As told by hotel??? Amazing Photograher (belkisfoto@hotmail.com)

Great service from ANGEL & RAFIELLE THANKS

Jason & Chantal 2 Months 8 days and still No SORRY!!!!!!!

PS For future couples Do Everything yourself keep it simple. Do not pay anyone, including getting a friend ordaned to perform the ceremony. MARTY was SOOOOOO Close to Marrying Us
jbart24escape@hotmail.com


Wedding Index - Top of Page

Viva Wyndham Playa DoradaNadia
May 2007

A truly dream wedding

First off I have to extend my sincere gratitude and appreciation to the Viva Wyndham Playa Dorada resort (Republic Dominican) for making my wedding day and the entire experience a VERY joyful one.

Here's my story,

On april 20th 2007, 37 of my friends, family and I flew in from montreal for the entire week. We were greeted with nice fruit punch and the desk clerk had a very nice surprise for all of us. We were all upgraded to junior suite rooms, we were so excited and all my guest were very impressed with the room size and there cleanliness.

We arrived at 8pm and even though it had been a long hard working day for Erasmos (our wedding planner) he was still ready to discuss with us the last details of the wedding since it was the next day. Most of all the wedding details we had discussed by e-mail but still few things I had brought and wanted to do as last minute things. The entire process with Erasmos was just a breeze, he made our lives very easy and he was just a sweet heart to work with. He did not forget anything I had requested and always made me feel like my wedding was the most important thing that day. Although, Erasmos was a breeze is assistant wasn't, she did have a nice smill but she was very confused and confusing or maybe she was just nervous. Anyways I did not let it bother me since she was only with me a short time.

I remember waiting to walk down the hill with my Dad, my three musicians are with me looking so good in there orange shirt. Erasmos had taking the liberty to ask them to were orange and white shirt since those were my wedding colors. That was very cool of him. Everything was set up neatly by the beach, the casibo, the chairs, the table with my wedding cake, the champagne (they also gave us two extra free champagne bottles), flowers, the torches, …. It was all so beautiful. By that time I now had 50 guess cheering me on. (since my husband is from puerto plata some of his family had joined us). And my husdband , oh! My god! He took my breath away, he was so handsome. This was literally the happiest time of my life.

Right after the ceremony, we took a couple of pictures, then had to run at the beach restaurant since it had started to rain. The staff were really good in clearing the place, serving us cocktails while we were waiting for them to finish setting up . The food and service was just amazing, everybody was really pleased. My wedding cake was really good as well. After diner they had made room for us to dance so we started dancing and drinking and drinking…. It was just a really fun night and the staff were fun, nicely dressed and just amazing service the entire time.

Just one thing I noticed in my picture coming back home. I had requested all my flowers to be orange and white but they were all kinds of colors, it obiously did not matter to me but it might matter to somebody else in the future.

The entire week vacation after that with my friends and family was just so much fun. The entire resort is so beautiful and always very clean. The staff is very nice, lots of fun and easy going .

This is by far a 5 star hotel in my book and recommend this resort for a wedding by the beach to everybody. You will not be disappointed !
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  Barcelo Punta Cana  Vic
January 2008

A group of 40 relatives and friends from Ontario, Ca attended the Barcelo Punta Cana 12-19 Jan 2008 for my son and his fiancées wedding.
Let me start by saying DON'T let your children get married there.
The wedding was to be a sunset ceremony at 5pm.

The following is a short list of some of my concerns:
-It turned out the Judge failed to show up and the wedding was performed by a bartender/resort employee unbeknown to us. (unacceptable)
-the "ceremony" didn't take place until 6:15pm as it was getting dark. (unacceptable)
-the judge showed up the next morning to sign the papers.
-the rest of that day was taken up with meetings and discussing what to do rather then enjoying our "vacation". (unacceptable)
-Sandy, the resort director refused to refund the full wedding fee even though the wedding was a fraud. Her argument was that Barcelo had provided what was expected of them and they can't control the Judge. (totally unacceptable) (they did refund partial payment).
-a number of friends and relatives arrived from off the resort for the day. They paid $50 each to Barcelo for what?..a fraudulent wedding. (totally unacceptable)
-the total group of 40 had paid for the privileges of the "Prestige Club". We were not provided with the proper wrist band nor the complete knowledge of what was available. We were not allowed into the Prestige Club bar even though "Welton and group" name was on the welcoming sign at the front door. I will take responsibility for not following up on this problem even though I had other things on my mind (should I have had to I ask?).

Obviously there are positive aspects to this resort but my comments would be tainted by the despicable handling of these problems and are best left unsaid.

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Barcelo Punta CanaTerri
November 2007

We got married at the resort. Our coordinator was Kirsten. She was amazing. She met all our needs, and was very flexible. When we first got there, she showed us various spots we could have the ceremony. We originally picked the garden, and the night before the wedding we changed our minds. She had absolutely no problem switching it to the beach. Ceremony was so nice. They weave a wedding arch out of palm leaves for each ceremony. They had a little heart of rose petals under it for us to stand on. The flowers were soooo beautiful. We got the "Tropical" bouquet. They didn't have a picture of them, but she recommended them and I am so glad I went with her suggestion. We got a fruit plate and bottle of rum in our room when we checked in, and a bottle of champagne was there on our wedding day. Also, when we checked out we got a letter stating that if we came back during the month of our first anniversary, the bride would get the hotel portion of the trip free.


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Barcelo Punta CanaCarrie and Bryan
April 2007

Well, my wedding day did not go off as I had planned. Let me say that we found the wedding coordinator, Nicole to be absolutely AMAZING. She worked hard to make every request I had a reality, and was a dream to deal with. I wanted to get married on the beach, but on the wedding day it rained. We ended up getting married in the Lobby, which they did decorate quite nicely. The people who were delivering the flowers for the wedding got in a horrible car accident(no one seriously hurt), which made the flowers (and consequently the wedding) about an hour late. But the flowers were breath-taking and worth it. I had the trio of guitars walk my father and I down the aisle, they did the wedding march, which sounded quite pretty. The ceremony itself was quite short, and the Judge says it in Spanish, so I had an uncle translate for me (he was provided a paper with the English version, so didn't need to know Spanish). After the vows were said, and the first kiss, they have you cut the cake, and hand out champagne. We did a few pictures, and then it was time for dinner. We had a buffet dinner in the Conference Room, as this was the only room big enough for our group. The food was terrific! Our guests were all raving about how great the food was - there was lasagna, steak, potatoes, veggies, lobster - all very yummy! They had decorated the hall very nicely, with flowers on all the tables, and a very nice head table. The staff that served was also great - near the end of the night there were a few who joined us out on the dance floor (and made us all look silly!). We hired a DJ for the night, as he has a better sound system, but he wasn't that good - he sometimes played the same song twice in a row when lots of people danced. We had also prepared music on CD's, which he refused to play. I wouldn't recommend him, but nevertheless, our guests were all up there dancing and having a great time. Because we didn't get any pictures on the beach on the wedding day, we dressed back up a few days later, and took some pictures on the beach and around the resort - I'm glad we did this, I didn't want to at first. Again, I can't rave enough about the wedding coordinators, they work very hard and do a great job.
carrie2821@hotmail.com
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  Riu Palace Macao  Tanya ~ Canada
July 2008

Preparation
I recommend that you pick a resort and start on all your proper documents roughly 3-4 months before you leave this will ensure that the judge is still available and gives you time to send a copy of your documents down there for approval before you go so that there are no surprises before getting there. I went to DRSI http://www.dominicanweddings.net/ in Toronto. This company specializes in assisting couples in arranging their marriages in the Dominican. They assure that all the legal requirements are met and they arranged for our passports, birth certificates, marriage application to be translated and legalized by the Dominican Republic Consulate.

There are two wedding planners at the resort Magnolia Crisostomo & Juliana Sandoval. Before arriving at the resort we worked with Magnolia – once there we worked with Juliana. The majority of the time (pre-arrival) we communicated via. e-mail. Typically responses would take a few days but she would always respond. Both of these women plan and execute multiple weddings a week so for them everything seemed easy. For me as the bride (not knowing what to expect) I struggled with this. Magnolia would answer my many questions as I asked them, and would on multiple occasions tell me not to worry about anything - that we’d sort it all out when we got down to Dominican. For someone who is as “overly organized” as I am I wasn’t entirely comfortable with that – for someone who’s more laid back this would be fine. I wanted to know every detail, how things were going to play out, what my options were, etc. Because I wanted to know all of these things and wasn’t sure what I’d get when I got to Dominican I did a lot of things at home and just packed extra suitcases to bring the stuff down with us. Having gone through it now, I can tell you that you can trust these ladies, they will do all they can to fulfill any request you have.

If you are flying down on a charter flight (most are) then they will let you take your dress on board and it won’t be counted as my carry-on luggage. It had to be stored in the overhead compartments – but they’ll likely reserve one for you so you don’t have to worry. My husband and I flew Air Canada and they wouldn’t allow me to carry my dress on (even though we were in business class) – and because I asked ahead of time I was able to make arrangements for my dad to take my dress on board his charter flight.

* Be sure to talk to your wedding coordinator about every detail. I had emailed Magnolia quite often leading up to our trip, and she doesn’t mind, she wants to make sure that you are going to be happy. Magnolia also arranged to meet us the day after we arrived in DR to go through every detail and finalize everything.

Legal Documentation:
You will need two witnesses holding valid passports that can be traveling with you or you can ask local hotel staff to witness your wedding. Note: Witnesses can not be blood related on either side.

Documents required to get married in the DR:
1. Original birth certificates. (Send three photocopies).
2. Valid and signed passports. (Send three photocopies of the main page).
3. Notarized statutory declarations of single status done according to our sample. (Bring or send one original and two photocopies).The Notary Public must be a Lawyer with a notary's seal or stamp.
Click here to see a sample of the Statutory Declaration.
4. Divorce certificate or death certificate, if applicable. (Send original or notarized photocopy and three simple photocopies.) In both cases, a minimum waiting period of ten months applies before a woman can remarry.
5. Filled in Information Form and Document Checklist.
The 3rd and 4th documents are translated and legalized by the Dominican Republic Consulate. The birth certificates have to be translated into Spanish. Some hotels ask for birth certificates to be legalized as well, please find out if that is the case with your hotel and let us know.

Attire
We had 4 groomsmen & 4 bridesmaids. The girls all wore purple dresses (different lengths) & flip flops, and the guys wore beige linen pants and purple shirts that matched the girl’s dresses with sandles. My husband chose to wear a white linen suit (including jacket) and a purple shirt, and I wore a traditional wedding dress. I went shopping for a beach type flowing dress but fell in love with the one I wore. Both my husband and I thought we’d be way too hot but were willing to suck it up for one day. Because both the ceremony location and the restaurant for our reception were on the beach we had a nice breeze for the entire thing and neither of us were overly hot.

The girls and I all had our hair and make-up done by Maria at the resort, she came to my suite and had us all done by 2:30pm. My hair cost $50.00 USD and the girls cost $40.00 ea.; make-up was $20.00 ea. Something to note is that Maria didn’t have any pictures of hair samples – Luckily, I had done some searching ahead of time so had some print outs and my girls and I just chose from them. She’s working on getting a book of photos, but it would be worth doing the research ahead of time and taking pictures with you.

Ceremony Location
The Riu offers 3 locations for a wedding ceremony to take place.
• The gazebo at the Palace Punta Cana – It’s quite pretty and right near the beach – probably the most private of all of the locations (however anyone on the beach near the gazebo will watch).
• The gazebo at the Riu Bambu – This gazebo is just up from the beach and outside one of the restaurants. This location is just off the main sidewalk connecting the resorts so you should expect quite a few onlookers.
• On the beach outside the Caribe Grill at the Riu Palace Macao. – This is the location we knew ahead of time we wanted and we were thrilled with the results. You have to be prepared for lots of onlookers both on the beach and on the sidewalk between the resorts. The staff at the resort will do what they can to keep sun bathers and spectators from interfering and being in photos. The aisle is up a wooden boardwalk down some stairs crossing the sidewalk and standing on sand.
We purchased the Caprice Wedding Package that was aprox. $2375.00 USD. The wedding package we bought included: • Caprice decorations set up of the ceremony location for up to 80 people – This included covered chairs for the ceremony and flowered arches.
• Bouquet of flowers for the bride and a matching boutonniere for the groom – We bought the following extra flowers bridesmaid flowers ($30.00ea), Boutonnières ($10.00), and mothers Corsages ($20.00). – All turned out beautifully. You’ll be able to pick your flowers once you get to the resort (the wedding planners have lots of photos).
• CD or recorded music during the ceremony – We went with the CD which was AWESOME!
• Twenty four color photographs with a special photo album and CD – this was fine for us as we had a photographer with us taking pictures. However, if you didn’t have your own photographer the on site photographer did a great job and you can buy additional photos, albums, etc. from him.
• Reception dinner for the wedding group at one of our specialty restaurants –See reception details below.
• Wedding cake for up to 15 people – As we had 50 people at our wedding we decided to pay for a larger cake that would serve everyone. The additional cost was $10.00 per person.
• Three bottles of sparkling wine – We decided to save the champagne until the reception and because you can get champagne included in the restaurants (we did our toasts, etc. there with their champagne) they just sent the 3 bottles to our room which we enjoyed when we were alone together.
• Natural or Chocolate body exfoliation for the bride and groom
• Aromatherapy massage for the bride and groom
• Deep-tissue or Lomi Lomi massage for the groom
• Manicure, pedicure and hairstyle try out for the bride
• Ten percent discount on all spa services for the bride and the groom (restrictions apply)
• Complimentary room upgrade subject to availability upon arrival (External Jacuzzi Suites are not included)
• Breakfast in bed the morning after the wedding
• Surprise gift and fruit basket
• Minister/Judge service & wedding certificate are included

The Wedding
As mentioned, we purchased the caprice package. The package included almost everything we wanted and we only paid extra for the hair & make-up, the additional flowers, and a larger cake. The ceremony it’s self was at 5:00 pm on the beach and was quite short (just a few minutes).

We asked Magnolia if we could have a few readings and/or a unity candle lighting during the ceremony and she advised that this would be possible if we brought them down with us. We chose to do two readings which was actually quite nice and extended the ceremony a little.

For the ceremony, I had printed programs at home and brought them with me (because I wasn’t sure if the resort would do this). I was happy with the programs that I brought, however I did find out the resort would do this for you and would have saved me from bringing them down there.

Knowing that it was likely going to be very hot we also had fans made at home that had our names and wedding date on them, we gave these to Juliana when we met with her (upon arrival in DR) and she had them placed open on every seat for when the guests arrived at the ceremony – this was a really nice touch.

The Judge conducted the ceremony in Spanish and Magnolia was on site and did the translation during the ceremony. The set-up was beautiful, and the time of day was good. The temperature was not as hot at that time and we managed to get some beautiful sunset pictures. Everything for the ceremony was perfect!

Dinner/Reception
I knew that we were aloud to have our group at one of the specialty restaurants for dinner (keep in mind this is only for one seating so you’ll have to choose either the early or late seating). We really wanted to have more time and have the restaurant to ourselves so I asked Magnolia what the options were. She advised that if we paid $600.00 USD we could reserve one of the restaurants for the entire night, they would set it up however we wished , and would decorate! We decided that because we had such a large group this was definitely the option for us and decided to book the Caribe Grill (the restaurant on stilts, on the beach) - I’m so glad we chose to do it this way!

For a group our size, they set the room up in a giant U shape with the head table being closest to the sea (as a backdrop). They let me do a seating chart (I had name cards I brought with me) and they set it up exactly how I had asked. The tables and chairs were covered in white linen and they had candles everywhere – it was BEAUTIFUL!

For the meal the guests got to order off the a la carte menu which was nice as people got to pick what they want rather than be stuck eating a pre-ordered meal.

We also hired a DJ for the night (through the wedding planners). For the small cost of $300.00 USD he played romantic music all through dinner, provided a wireless microphone for speeches, played our first dance, father/daughter, and mother/son songs (we brought those on a CD), as well as played a variety of music for the remainder of the night. Basically, we had a full reception like you would have at home including speeches, cake cutting, bouquet and garter toss. We had the restaurant booked from 6:30pm – 10:30pm (although we slipped the restaurant staff and the DJ a generous tip and they let us stay until 11:30pm).

We also pre-ordered cigar labels (off the internet) and brought them down with us. Upon arriving at the resort we arranged to buy 100 cigars from one of the cigar vendors and the guy put our labels on for us – which saved us a ton of time! Magnolia and Juliana put the cigars in a beautiful basket and had them next to the guest book at the reception for when the guests arrived.

Overall
We were thrilled with the way the wedding turned out. Magnolia and Juliana were wonderful and they made sure that everything we wanted happened. Not a single thing went wrong and we certainly couldn’t have asked for more…. Except that maybe the day lasted a little longer.
Good luck in finding your perfect destination wedding location!

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  Riu Palace Macao  Katie & Pat ~ Ontario, Canada
February 2008

We stayed at the RIU Palace Macao (January 26 - February 2, 2008) and it was a beautiful resort. It is 1/5 RIU hotels in Punta Cana. It is located between the Iberostar and Gran Bahia. The staff was more than helpful and friendly. I could not say enough good things about the service we received. The resort is split into 2 sides we were all in the same corridor except for a friend of mine who came later. She was upgraded to the RIU Palace Punta Cana as the Macao was overbooked. It did suck, as she was a ways away from the rest of us, the pool was quite small as was the kiddie wading pool but the beach was amazing. It was never too crowded and the odd palm tree provided shade when needed. The rooms were kept really clean but were a bit dated. The bed was actually not that uncomfortable I did not have any problems. The food was great; we all enjoyed the buffet and had a great wedding dinner at the “Caribe Grill”. Most “party” people spent there time at the Lobby bar. Great drinks. I watched almost every show, though they are super cheesy and cheap they are entertaining. Johnny Bravo, Super John, Puff Daddy and Angie are great members of the hardworking Animacion team. Though my guests participated in a few events they were always busy. The resort guests were an older crowd. The Bambu and Taino seemed much rowdier. The RIU Palace Punta Cana, seemed way to posh for me but it was a nice place to visit.

WEDDING
I did use the resort hairdresser. She was a super nice girl whom works outside the resort. She did my hair, the flower girls and one bridesmaid in about 2.5 hours. She did a good job. I was not overly picky nor was anyone else so it made her job easier. We had our wedding at the gazebo at the RIU Bambu. It is the most private setting you can get at the RIU. That being said they are still a few spectators. It was very nice. The Renewal of Vows we had was very short - maybe 20 minutes from the start of us walking down the aisle to the end of the ceremony. The minister read something in Spanish and Magnolia translated it for us. All we had to say was “I DO” My FH thought this was the greatest thing ever. Me, wanted something more, but gave into FH’s wishes. You are more than welcome to include your own vows if you’d like. You just had to let Magnolia know before hand. Magnolia is a very nice person who was very accommodating. WE had the pianist perform at the ceremony. He played some slow music for the bridal party and literally the wedding march as I cam down. But not the start of the wedding march but the part that most people hear when you are leaving the ceremony. Oh, well. What can you do? I wanted the trio, but was once again out voted by FH. As for decorations and flowers you basically choose from a generic RIU wedding book. The flowers were not as tropical as I would have like but the bouquet’s turned out fine. It does cost extra for centre pieces and any other table decorations. The centre pieces for tables were about $60 a piece. The chair covers are included in the package. We had our dinner at the Caribe Grill on the beach for an extra $600; they had the chairs covered as well as a vase with a fresh flower on each table and the table settings had a pattern to it. It was cute. I did not hire a DJ, but kind of wish I did. My FH did not want a first dance, bouquet/garter toss or speeches so a DJ was out of the question for him. If you pay by credit card they do convert it into Pesos.

PHOTOGRAPHY
Magnolia arranged for Michael Weiler to come and photograph my wedding. I was still in shock a bit of a daze and forgot to ask him to come to my room ahead of time to take photos. I as well forgot him to take a few shots just of me and my bridesmaids and with family, but I do not attribute it to his skill but myself. It was just a whirlwind of a day. The quality of his photos was great and he was very personable. He was also accommodating and I am sure if I remembered at the time to ask him for certain shots he would definitely do them. If you choose not to bring your own photographer down I would recommend Michael he works out of the RIU but I can get you his contact information if you’d like. For $650 I got 24 5x7 prints and beautiful album (the ones with thick pages – coffee table style) and the CD with all the photos he took.

Feel free to email me at katieandpat@shaw.ca if you have any other questions!
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Riu Palace MacaoHelen
April 2007

My husband and I, along with 14 other friends and family, stayed at the Riu Palace Macao from Feb 17th to the 24th and had our wedding on the 22nd.

I don't even know where to begin. The resort was spectacular, the beach was incredible, the staff were exceptional and our wedding co-ordinator (Magnolia) is one of the most wonderful people you will ever have the pleasure of meeting. We arrived late Saturday evening/early Sunday morning (after delays with Skyservice) but all flight problems were quickly forgotten once we reached the hotel. We had all booked garden view rooms but received upgrades upon request. Most of our party ended up with Poolview Suites. My Husband and I were upgraded to the Presidential Suite (w/private balcony jacuzzi tub)... Our room was fantastic (bigger than our apartment). All the rooms at the hotel are great! Each room has a stocked bar (w/ vodka, rum, etc...) and a fully stocked fridge (beer, pop, etc) which is refilled daily. I would suggest tipping the cleaning staff (leave 1-2 USD/day) to ensure that you always have bottled water in your room and they will also turn down your bed at night. Each room also includes a safe (at no charge). This was great as we didn't have to worry about carrying our passports etc.. around with us.

The food was superb (we were informed of this by friends that have been here before). Our favorite dinning spot was the main buffet restaurant as their food selection is unbeatable. The breakfast and dinners were fantastic. The a-la-carte restaurants offered fabulous selections for lunch as well. No one got sick and we ate everything!!! The drinks were great and you never had to wait in line at the bar as the servers would come to your table. I can't say enough about the service. We never had a problem booking all 16 people for dinners at night (they prepared the seating for all of us each night) including the night we left (Sat. Feb 24th).

Now for the Wedding... Magnolia contacted me on Tuesday .. we got together that afternoon and arranged the location of the wedding (we picked the Gazebo at the new Palace Punta Cana but the beach setting looked beautiful as well--personal preference--the Gazebo was a little more private), the reception restaurant (& seating time), the cake, flowers, hair & make-up, video & pictures and the Sunset Cruise (highly recommended)!!!! A quick note, you need to pay cash for the cruise, hair & make-up and some other stuff. It's best to confirm this ahead of time to avoid having to take a trip to the bank which is about 13km from the resort (approx $20 USD for return cab ride). The flowers were gorgeous, Maria our hair & make up person was spectacular (she did an amazing job on our hair and make-up ..for 4 of us and in less than 2 hours!! ). The video (which included 5 songs of our choice and full vocal during the ceremony) and the pics were amazing (we saved money by not making any prints there.. we just asked for the CD). We were really suprised at the professional quality of both!!! We showed the video at our reception and all of our guests were blown away, especially since the video was completed before we left (we picked up the pics and video on Sat AM).

Even though we had 5 days of rain which supposedly is very unusual (our wedding day was not one of them thank goodness)...it was still a fabulous vacation... my only regret is that we didn't stay an extra week... I would recommend this place to anyone and I myself am planning on going back very soon!!!
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Riu Palace MacaoCrystal & Curtis
March 2007

Me and Curtis were married on March 5/07 at the Riu Hotel Palace Macao in Punta Cana. We had a group of 14 at our wedding. The process was very stressful leading up to our trip. It is difficult communicating with the staff. We tried to communicate via email but had a hard time with it. We would send an email including 5 questions. We would get a response 3 weeks later which usually only answered 1 of the questions. We finally tried calling but were unable to speak to somebody in english. I'd like to note that I'm not the type of person who goes to a country & expects them to speak my language but I assumed since North American weddings are big business down there, that somebody would speak english. We ended up going back to the email/3 week wait time method. When we got there, it was a completely different story. We met with our wedding co-ordinator Magnolia who was priceless. She showed us a book with all our options (flowers etc) & made all the arrangements. She even arranged to have a hairdresser come to my room. Magnolia was the most efficient/organized person I have ever met. There was a problem with the CD we had brought for the ceremony. Magnolia had arranged for a guy to come down and play music on a keyboard before I even knew there was a problem. WOW. There wasn't even an additional charge for that. The day was completely stress free. All the previous stress was worth it. The ceremony site was beautiful too. They had arches made out of palm leaves & fresh flowers on the beach. We did have a lot of spectators (some topless) so if this would bother you, don't get married on the beach. It didn't bother us at all & Magnolia took care of the onlookers that got too close/were interfering. The hotel also provided a waiter to serve us champagne after the ceremony. I would do it all over again!!!
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Riu Palace Scott and Tammy ~ Ontario Canada
January 2006 As a bride I found Debbie’s website the best to handle the stress and have decided to post the details of my wedding and trip in hopes of helping other people!

My husband and I were married January 10th 2006 on the grounds of the Riu Palace @ approximately 3:30pm. We had no doubt’s about getting married on the beach even if it was a busy time at the beach and we would have to deal with a few uninvited guests, but we went down there to get married on the beach so that is what we did. I seen other weddings take place down there in the other 2 spots available and I am glad we chose the beach.

Resort
Our invited 21 family members and friends all stayed at the Riu Taino and the Riu Naiboa. Upon our arrival we were all placed within a close vicinity of one another which was nice as we never requested being all within one area. The rooms are good, they have a bed, a bar, a shower and a toilet what more do you need, I was not there to stay in my room ,I was there to enjoy the sun, so for people who are looking to have a spectacular room, please don’t expect that. There was also 4 of us who stayed down there a second week and we moved over to the Palace the second week and I would have to say the only difference is the rooms, we had the Honeymoon Suite there and it was beautiful, but as for the food and service there was no big difference.

I would suggest reading the resort reviews on this website. There is helpful information that is given from past travelers that you might find useful, but remember not everyone has the same feelings as you do about things. We had the opportunity to visit all the other resorts on the complex; we were content staying at the Taino with the rest of our guests. We did however visit all the other resorts the night of our Stag and Stagette, which was nice because there was large groups going together which made it a lot more fun. The beach is absolutely beautiful, the water is really salty but it is so refreshing. We spent most of the day at the beach and we did visit the pool which was really nice as well. There were kids there but they run an excellent kids program so there is a lot to do for this kids down there. The food was great, dinner service was good, reception staff spoke English very well, Animation Team was not what I thought it would be as I have been to the Riu in Puerto Plata and had a great time with there Team so I expected the same thing and I was a disappointed with that, but I was not there to worry about that. Air conditioners worked everywhere which was great! There really isn’t too much to complain about, as there was 21 of us there and we all came back with great tans.

Wedding Information

Preparation
I recommend that you pick a resort and start on all your proper documents roughly 3-4 months before you leave this will ensure that the judge is still available and gives you time to send a copy of your documents down there for approval before you go so that there are no surprises before getting there. I had the great pleasure of dealing with Magnolia and she was the best I can’t say enough nice things about her, she is wonderful and did a great job with the preparation. She was always quick to respond to any questions or concerns. That helped to put a lot of worries at ease.

Legal Documentation:
To be translated & legalized – Declaration of Single Status (notarized) & birth certificate.
Altogether, for translation and legalization we paid roughly $480 US. We included our photocopied passports to send to the DR Consulate in Toronto. For our Declaration of Single Status we used the template provided through Debbie’s website. Refer to the Consulate’s website for all paperwork needed, correct addresses and who to make your money orders out too. (Debbie’s website provides the link to their site.) We sent our complete package – via Courier and with a self addressed Courier envelope for quick return we sent it out and had it back in 2 business days, very impressive!

Witnesses:
Your wedding coordinator will request photocopies of your witnesses’ passports. You can give this to Magnolia when you get down there, when you meet with her. Note: Witnesses can not be blood related on either side.

Attire
My husband wore a White with a darker shad of blue vest than the baby blue his guys were wearing suit, that we rented from Tip Top Tailors, as well as the rest of the wedding party on his side. I wore a strapless wedding dress, floor length, and it was not hot at all, well for me it wasn’t. My girls wore Buttercup Yellow Chiffon dresses which looked beautiful. He wore shoes and I wore flip-flops. The breeze from the ocean really helped everyone there. I had my hair done down there and it was worth the $50US that I paid as she did a great job. And my sister in-law did my make-up(Thanks Lisa) .

Ceremony Location
The Riu offers 3 locations for a wedding ceremony to take place. One location is the gazebo. I the pictures of a wedding at the gazebo and thought it was very pretty, but like I said we were already set on the beach. We really wanted to feel the sand between our toes. However, the beach location is busy and if you want a intimate location this is not the choice for you. Out of the whole beach area, it is in front of the beach caribe in front of the Palace. The aisle is up a wooden boardwalk down some stairs crossing the boardwalk and standing on sand. The 3rd location is a more private area at the Palace in the Garden behind the Jacuzzi area and it is surrounded by Palm Trees so it is more private than the others. We purchased the wedding package that was roughly ($1500CDN), so we were guaranteed decorations, pictures a piano player, champagne, cake flowers and much more.

The Wedding
As mentioned, we purchased the $1500 package. This package included: ceremony location decoration, judge, translator, and pianist, champagne, flowers and a lot more extra that we didn’t have to pay extra for. (Just a note: If you were to use real flowers from the resort and you wanted to dry them and take them home for safekeeping, you will be accosted at customs. You’re not to bring flowers back into the country.) With the $1500 package you only receive 24 pictures from the professional photographer. Which was fine for us as we had a photographer with us taking pictures, but when we got the pictures back we were able to purchase them all on a CD for a fee and we got a great price from Michael, he did a wonderful job..

Dinner/Reception
We decided to have our dinner at the Mediterranean Restaurant as the Steak House was only available on certain days; it is an a la carte restaurant. We originally wanted the Steak House at The Palace, but were given the run around that we were not guests of that resort so we couldn’t eat there, which would have been fine, but our second week stay was at the Palace so we thought we would have been okay. The Mediterranean was excellent, great food and great service, the only disappointment was that they were to have a CD player there so we could have our first dance and they didn’t have one and they said no music in the restaurant anyways, so that was a little upsetting, but minor details. Having a full-blown reception with all of the songs we love wasn’t an option. We also weren’t interested in going to the disco to have them play our CD.

Overall
I was pleased with the way our wedding day turned out, and I didn’t do much of the work other than say what we liked and didn’t like Magnolia and her staff did it all and that is what I wanted a stress free wedding. Magnolia you were wonderful. There are a few things that will and can disappoint you when you travel with so many guests that you feel you should be treated a little better, but remember everyone down there feels that way even if there are just a couple, everyone thinks that they should be treated the best. As for the gift that they say the give you please don’t hold you breath it is a warm plate of sliced fruit placed beside our TV. We expected a little more than that when we spent all that money on the wedding, but what can you do. As for the rest of the vacation, we all had a great time, by 2 weeks I was glad to be coming home, things can get a little repetitive in regards to the activities that they do as they are geared to a week to week basis vacation; they don’t normally expect that people will be there for 2 weeks.

Recommendations
* Bring a lot of sunblock. You’ll have to keep reapplying it too. I wore a strapless dress, and I thought I would be okay but 1 day in the water and my beautiful even tan was gone, but hey it just proves you were really there!
* We took the dreaded Sky Service plane to Punta Cana. I was able to take my dress on board. It was not counted as my carry-on luggage. It had to be stored in the overhead compartments. I was told to board the plane at the same time as everyone else and they would ensure they space would be there and it was. When I got to the resort, I hung my dress in the closet and the humidity cleared my dress of any wrinkles.
* Be sure to talk to your wedding coordinator about every detail. I had emailed Magnolia quite often leading up to our trip, and she doesn’t mind, she wants to make sure that you are going to be happy.
* Our photographer, he was great, if there are certain requests for him make sure you let him know and something’s do cost extra like coming to rooms to take shots of getting ready, you will have to upgrade your package if you got one. So, if you want those pictures be sure to request it!. Just remember to be vocal if it’s important to you to have certain poses taken.
*We decided on a 3:30pm wedding, which was great. The judge was like 5-10 minutes so it was perfect as it started to drizzle right at 3:30, and stopped like 5 minutes later so we were glad she was a little late. I suggest a wedding no later then 4pm. You may have the hot weather to contend with, but the sun goes down fairly quickly and you’ll miss those amazing pictures with the sun. It is still light out after that time, but the sun is definitely not it’s brightest.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions .
thefergusonfam@yahoo.ca
I would love to help, I have been there and I know what it is like not knowing what to expect and not knowing what to do or if things are going to go well.

Good luck in finding your perfect destination wedding location!

Thanks, and have a great day,
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Barcelo Bavaro BeachSarah and Bruno
July 2007

We recently had our wedding at the Barceló Bávaro Beach resort in Punta Cana, and we had a wonderful time. The whole destination wedding thing was a great experience for our guests, and us as well. No stress related to organization issues or whatsoever: We truly enjoyed our wedding as a real vacation.

With family members in the Unites States, France and Martinique it would have been difficult to please everybody with a wedding location, and moreover my then fiancée Sarah wanted to be married by the beach, so we opted for a destination wedding. After looking at some resorts online in the Bahamas, Hawaii, the Dominican republic and Mexico, we thought Punta Cana was the best choice: it was affordable for our guests coming from the USA and France, and there was an international airport very close to the resorts.

We selected the Barceló Bávaro Beach resort mostly because it was considered to be one of the 10 finest beaches in the world, and it is true that the beach is wonderful. There are also five hotels in the complex with different prices and level of accommodation, so our guests had a wider selection to chose from. Then it is very easy to book a stay there directly through Expedia, Travelocity, or Priceline.

We took care of most of the wedding details (date, location ect .. ) through emails from home. That part was a little bit frustrating because some time it took days to get answers to our questions, but we understood that our wedding coordinator was busy as she was also working for the Barceló Bávaro convention center.

We had arranged to see our wedding coordinator Mirtha Soto the day after our arrival in the resort to sort out the last details (reception menu, wine list, color of the bouquets, procedures for the ceremony, the reception, ect..), and it was a very pleasant meeting. Mirtha gave us a little tour of the resort in her golf cart, and invited us to test our selected wedding menu at one of the not included restaurant at the Barceló Bávaro Palace.

After that brief meeting, we could spend all our time with our family and friends until the wedding. No stress at all preparing anything, as we knew everything was taken care of. In the wedding package a group dinner was included at one of the all included restaurants, but as we opted for a private reception dinner, so we used the offered group dinner the day before the wedding: the 2 families and our friends were able to all meet at once before the wedding. After that rehearsal dinner we went to see a show at the Barceló Bávaro Casino, as the wedding package also included a reserved seating area for the Tropicalissimo show.

The day of the wedding somebody brought the bride's bouquet and the groom's boutonnière. While the wedding party was waiting on the beach, the photographer and Mirtha went to get the bride. When she arrived at the wedding location on the beach, the musical trio (just 2 musicians in fact) started playing, and the ceremony started. The whole thing seemed like a movie :)

After the ceremony, Champagne and hors d'oeuvre were served on the beach, and we had pictures taken on the beach. Later we had our dinner party in a gorgeous room at the Barceló Bávaro convention center, minutes away from the beach. The service was excellent there, but the party ended too early (11PM) as the staff had to prepare the room for the next day, so we finished the party at one of the night clubs with some of our wedding party.

The only minor disappointment during the whole stay was the boat party we had booked. We thought it would have been a big catamaran (for the price of the boat ride it should have been), but it turned out it was a small boat used for the snorkeling tours. In fact, that was the very same boat we had used 30 minutes before while we went snorkeling with our friends. The seats were still wet and salty. And the unfriendly boat driver (he had refused to take us to a different snorkeling spot when we had told him there was nothing to see at the spot he dropped us off) was there as well.

Overall the wedding turned out to be great. All the guests were happy, and we had a blast, even though we first contacted the wedding coordinator less than 5 months prior to our wedding date!
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Barcelo Bavaro BeachShannon & Mark ~ Canada
January 2007

The day after we arrived, Mark and I went and met with our wedding coordinator, Illanney. This was a quick no stress meeting. We gave her copies of all of the documents that we needed, and she reviewed the final details with us. I had previously communicated with her through email, so most of the decisions had already been made. Then she showed us the different locations where we could get married and we decided that the beach was it. We did not have any kind of rehearsal, she just showed us where to walk, and where we would be standing and the rest was pretty self explanatory. Illaney will arrange everything you need! She arranged our flowers, and we also has a musical trio playing while I walked down the isle and after the ceremony. This is definitely worth the extra money, that little bit of music made the day that much more perfect.

We did not plan on getting a photographer, just thought that friends and family could take pictures, but after we arrived we just decided to hire the guy on the resort. He took pictures throughout the entire ceremony and then did a fairly short photo session afterwards. I'm sure he would do more, but we wanted no longer than 15 minutes. This may be hard to believe, but the pictures are the most beautiful wedding pictures I have ever seen. I don't have them posted on the web, but if you would like to see please email me and I'd be happy to send some. (noler5@hotmail.com) Also, he said that it would cost us $400us for 40 pictures, but we ended up bartering with him and got the entire cd for $300us, which was over 150 pictures.

After the ceremony we had a group reservation at the steakhouse. Nothing private, but it was great anyway. We just got up and said our speeches in the restaurant. I think the other guests enjoyed it.

After dinner we did not have anything official planned, but ended up all going to the small bar/disco located at the Palace hotel. I took in a CD that I brought and the bartender played it for us, so we had our first dance, and I got to have a dance with my father. Then we had a private reception for the next couple of hours. This just worked out perfectly, but was not planned before. Finally, we all headed to the hotel disco...I think I finally got to sleep after the sun came up the next morning. A night I will never forget!!!

If your considering this resort, or just want to know more details about getting married in Dominican, please feel free to contact me at noler5@hotmail.com. I wish that I had someone to guide me when I started the planning, so I'm happy to help!
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Barcelo Bavaro BeachAnnie and Paul
January 2007

I’m a little late in writing this review but better late than never.
After reading some reviews about the wedding I felt I had to write this review.

When we decided to get married, I was looking for something different. We did not want a big wedding, we wanted a stress free low key wedding, and that’s exactly what we got at the Barcelo. Traveling with 25 people ranging from 18 years old to 81 years old, we did our research. We chose the Barcelo beach because
A my husband and father in law play golf and wanted to play after the wedding
B had to be tons of activities for everybody included me (4 months pregnant at the time)

First let me say the beach is gorgeous, the rooms compare to a holiday inn room nothing special but hey you don’t spend much time in your room. The restaurant were all good (keeping in mind the culture and food are very different their) some of the peoples that traveled with us have been on many trips they all said was that “This is the most gorgeous beach they have ever seen.” . We stayed 2 weeks one with friends and family for the wedding the other was our honeymoon. Most of the planning for the wedding was done via e-mail and fax between us, our travel agent, and the wedding co-coordinator. The wedding was scheduled for the Wednesday, we met the co-coordinator on the Monday afternoon to finalized everything and see the spot for the beach weeding. She took care of everything we relaxed and enjoyed the beach they did the rest. We chose the steak house (by far my favorite restaurant) to have the receptions the wedding was held on the beach in front a palm tree arch, low key and exactly what I imagined it to be. Nobody got sick out of 25 people, and some of our guests stayed a different resort for the second week, and the liked the Bavaro the best. The restaurant and the resort had a surprise for us, we had our own personalized menu for the wedding and when we got back from supper and all the resort had left a bottle of rum and a big plate of fresh fruit (kina nice to have a little something from them)

The beach is groomed dally very early in the morning, and had no major problem.
With our whole group, we had people staying with us at the Beach, some stayed at the Craribe and others at the Golf, nobody had any complaints about their room, except the couple that stayed at the Caribe said it mostly hunger people in that building , so it a bit louder. We stayed at the Beach and I found it really quite.
The only thing to remember is that life is at a different speed down their, so if you remember that your on vacation and that there is no big rush for anything you’ll be okay we did do excursions we went snorkeling and swimming with the sharks and sting rays . We never got bored the resort is so nice we spend must of our time just walking around looking at the resort
So if your planning on having a different kind of wedding or even a just a great vacation this is the place to go
If anybody what’s more information or pictures here’s my e-mail segua@rogers.com
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Barcelo Bavaro BeachSarah and Darren ~ Northants, England
September 2006

We have just returned from our wonderful wedding at the Barcelo Beach Hotel so after reading a really bad review on your site, I wanted to share our great experience.

22 of us with ages ranging from 11 to 60 went out for two weeks and had an amazing time.

There is plenty to do to for all ages with lots of free activities.

There are four different pools plus the one at The Palace if you are staying there.

There is a buffett resturant at each of the five hotels which serve an amazing choice of good quality food plus the speciality resturants which were all very good. We ate at The Steak House, The Italain, The Mexican and had good meals at all of them. We were also lucky to get an invite to the 5* Spanish one as part of the wedding package, which was amazing.

We delt with a different wedding co-ordinator to the one previously mentioned. Mirtha Soto was really good. We had been emailing her prior to our visit to make all of the arrangments and had a brief meeting on our arrival to run through how everything would work.

She arranged a photographer, DVD and musical trio all of which were excellent and we had beautiful flowers to the exact colour and specification we asked for.

We got married in The Gazebo at The Palace Hotel which is set in pretty gardens and was everything we had hoped for. After the ceremony our guests enjoyed cocktails in the gazibo while we had photos taken in the gardens. We had a great meal, Champagne and wedding cake at The Italian Resturant-all the staff made a real effort. After dinner Mirtha had made us reservations for the Tropicalismo Show which we really enjoyed.

Your wedding is what you make it. You have to bear in mind you are in a foreign country and of course the Judge takes the cerenony in Spanish. We actually thought that was really lovely and all part of the experiance of getting married abroad. Mirtha translated for us and everything was fine.

We had a great experience and would do it all again tomorrow.
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Barcelo Bavaro BeachMartine
September 2006

I read the reviews on your website, and wish I had have listened. Last year we stayed at the Carabela in Punta Cana, we loved the island and the people, the hotel rooms were not great but we had got such a good deal, and the food and drinks were great, that we really could not complain. The hotel staff and food were wonderful. So we planned our wedding.

In March I contacted the hotel for a wedding in July, just 20 people. We stayed at the Barcelo Bavaro, trust me do not go to this hotel, and do not have a wedding there. Myself and my husband arranged our wedding in this resort, the wedding coordinator assigned to us was ******** Jiminez. From the beginning it was difficult to get a response from ******** unless we were looking to purchase something. I will try and not bore you with all the details!

We purchased a boat trip around the island with music drinks and appetizers as part of the celebrations. ******** forgot to let the security know some of our guests (who were staying at another resort) were coming, and it took her 1.5 hours to show up to correct the problem and let them into the hotel. They were sitting in a minivan with no air conditioning and the security would not let them off the bus. Eventually they had to return to their own resort as the children were getting sick. Hotel said she was having lunch. Then she insisted we eat the appetizers on the boat, even though they were sitting in the sun for 2 hours.

There was no wedding coordination whatsoever. 3 Days before the wedding she told us the justice of the peace cannot speak English and ******** will be the interpretor. Apparently this was the only judge on the whole island according to ********. She forgot to bring the photographer, DVD, or restaurant manager, to our one and only meeting as previously agreed. She told the photographer, DVD guy and restaurant manager the wrong time of the wedding and dinner. Therefore both the photographer and DVD guy had to leave early as they had other appointments. I went myself and talked to the restaurant manager (very nice) we give him $120 for himself to guarantee everything went well for the dinner (and it did). Our wedding flowers were the wrong color, ******** the wedding coordinator was seen on the beach the morning of the wedding for a few minutes, did not coordinate with myself or my husband. The groom, best man and guests were waiting on the beach for 1.5 hrs (85 degrees) and the justice of the peace was 1.5 hours late. To top it off, the photographer LOST - yes Lost all our wedding pictures. His name was Gigio. He told us he used a memory card, put the pictures on the computer, deleted them from the memory card, and then the computer crashed. The DVD was completely amateurish. It was awful.

I know previous reviews stated how bad the hotel rooms were, trust me I thought it may have been an exxageration. They were correct. It took 3 days to get a manager to state our grievances to about to the wedding. As they just kept hoping we would go away. Finally he agreed on a discount, but when we got the final bill on the morning of checkout, the overcharges covered the discount. It was once again so difficult to get the manager, our bus left for the airport. In the end we had to pay and get a taxi to the airport as we were just getting the run around.

On top of that all 20 guests got severe dirrahea and nauseouness, and the hotel charges $5.00 for one immodium! We did not have that problem last year. I believe it is the resort.
Beautiful Island, but not this resort.
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  Paradisus Palma Real    Danielle ~ NJ, USA
December 2008

Sorry this extremely long. Feel free to skip to the summary and just look at pictures. I stayed at the Paradisus Palma Real from Nov 1, 2008 to Nov 10, 2008 our wedding was on Nov 6th. Derek and I went a couple of days early. Most of our guests stayed from November 3rd to November 10th. We did have a couple of guests come for only 4 or 5 days and each one were disappointed they didn't book for a longer stay. We had a total of 28 guests and 1 infant. It was the most beautiful resort I've ever been to. All of my worrying about whether or not I’d picked the right resort to have my wedding at was unnecessary, I made the right decision. There were a couple of hiccups but nothing major. Everything was fixed. I would go back there tomorrow; well if they allowed dogs I would go back tomorrow lol. I can’t leave my dogs for a while, I missed them too much.

Airlines: We flew US Airways on the way in. We checked in 4 bags and were only charged the $50 overweight fee. We carried on one bag and my dress. They did have a closet to hang my dress in but the flight attendant recommended I fold my dress in half and stick it in the overhead bin because she thought the closet would bunch the bottom of my dress up and it would be more wrinkled that way. So I folded it in the overhead and luckily everyone was nice enough not to put anything in the overhead I had it in. It was a full flight too. So the whole plane ride I was a nervous wreck about my dress, actually I was a nervous wreck about my dress the moment we stepped in to the Philly airport and had to go through security. But my dress was fine!!! The Palma Real cannot steam your dress for you, I brought a hand steamer but luckily I didn’t need it for my dress.

On the way home we flew US 3000. We checked in 3 bags and were charged $25 for one being overweight and $25 for an extra baggage. We were happy with the $50 each way, we expected to pay more. And we carried on two bags. We packed my dress in the bag that had the wedding favors since it was empty now. The flight was fine, when we had booked the flight it was supposed to be nonstop but that got changed to a short layover. It wasn’t bad at all. We literally got off the plane, went through customs, and got back on the plane.

Palma Real Arrival: We walked into the resort and I was in awe at a how beautiful it was. I saw a ton of wedding pictures, girls vacation pictures, etc but they didn’t do the resort justice. It was gorgeous. We had to check-in to the royal service. Our TA had us upgraded to royal service free of charge. At check-in we were asked for our credit card which is pretty normal. Than we were told our card would be charged $600 for incidentals. We had never heard about this policy. Derek argued with the girl that it’s an all inclusive resort why would you charge people $600 for incidentals they probably won’t even have since all food and drinks are included. We didn’t care about us having to pay for it because we were planning on using most of it at the spa, salon and gift shop but all of our guests had no idea about this. I have young siblings that don’t have a ton of money or many credit cards. I understood that they charged you the $600 now and if you didn’t use it you got it back at the end of your stay but it just seemed to me that it was a bad policy at an all inclusive resort and $600 is a lot of money for some people. But the girl that checked us in really couldn’t help us she told us to talk to the wedding coordinator. Actually she kind of threw the wedding coordinator under the bus by saying to us Oh the wedding coordinator never told you about this charge. Honestly, it didn’t seem like the wedding coordinator’s job to tell us about the charges. I would think it would be booking who should have told my TA and than my TA would have told me. So we stopped in to the WC office and she was out. And we then found out that our WC meeting that was supposed to be on Tuesday was canceled and needed to be on Weds, the day before my wedding. When the WC assistant first told me this, I got really nervous about the meeting being changed like that and also not being able to get a straight answer about the $600 incidental charge. Our butler had told us if someone didn’t have to pay it they didn’t have to but a couple of other staff members insisted that everyone had to pay it. The next day we went down to the guest services desk and tried to explain our situation, we had almost 30 people coming and none were aware of the incidental charge. Finally we got to speak to a manager. He was great. He talked to the WC and they both wrote up a letter that said our guests did not have to pay the $600 deposit and they would have to pay any room charges at the end of their stay when they checked out. And if they didn’t pay their room charges than Derek and I were responsible. Problem solved and I felt so much better and could finally relax.

Private Dinner for Two on the Beach Sunday Nov 2nd A+ When we first started planning I really wanted to do the dinner on the beach but I thought $300 was too much plus we had a ton of other things to pay for. But luckily we got it as a gift from a friend. It was awesome. It was my favorite dinner during the week and it was really romantic. Derek is a really picky eater so we usually frequent the same restaurants (Chickie N Petes, PJ Whelihans, Brios, Olive Garden, On the Border) so it was really nice to have a nice dinner. The atmosphere was gorgeous. We were right in front of the ocean. We had two servers; they would take turns going back and forth to get drinks and food. They were great. For a starter course we had the grilled vegetables with goat cheese. I thought it was delicious, Derek didn’t like it but he doesn’t like his veggies anyway. For our entree we had filet with grilled lobster. Both were huge portions and delicious. The lobster just melted in my mouth. One of the best meals I’ve ever had. For dessert they made us a little heart shaped cake with strawberries and chocolate sauce. We were so stuffed but I managed a couple of bites. $300 is definitely worth it. It was so perfect. If we go back I want to do it again!

Hair Trial November 3rd 10:30 am. I scheduled a hair trial and my other spa appointments by email about a month before we left. The spa’s email address is ventas.spa@paradisuspalmareal.com. Cristella did my hair trial. I brought two pictures of styles that I wanted to combine and I also brought my hair trial. In about an hour she was finished and I loved it. I was so happy because my hair is very fine and poker straight. When I curl it, it straightens itself out in an hr. But she got the style to work in my hair. She then changed my hair so Derek wouldn’t see what my wedding day hair looked like.

Welcome Dinner Tuesday Nov 4th. A+ We had Vivianna make us reservations at Bana Bistro restaurant; it’s a family style restaurant with Chinese type food. That’s the one she recommended for a large group. Since it wasn’t a private event it was free. We were the only guests in that part of the restaurant so it was private to us. We had a set menu, the festival menu. The food was great. They just kept bringing dish after dish out. They brought out about 3 different appetizers and would have multiple dishes of each one so the whole table would have plenty to share. For the main courses, they brought a chicken stir fry, a beef dish, seafood dish, & fried rice. I think there was more that I can’t even remember. They brought out two desserts a Tiramisu and a chocolate mouse cake. Both were great. My mil is a vegetarian so she asked the waiter for something she could eat and he was happy to get it for her. Everyone liked the food and we all waddled away from the table stuffed. Derek liked the restaurant so much that we ate their again later in the week. Vivianna the WC and Anna Marie showed up to make sure everything was okay, I thought that was very thoughtful. They also let me know that they gave us a big suite for 3 days as a surprise and also so I and the girls could get ready in it.

Meeting with Vivianna, WC Wednesday Nov 5th A+ Vivianna was a sweetheart and so was her assistant Anna Marie. At the meeting Vivianna went over each question on the Wedding Planner to make sure she had all the details right (menus, flower choices I choose the tropical bouquets, etc). She explained to me the order of the ceremony and reception. I gave her my place cards/wedding favors, menus, and wedding programs, ceremony music and reception music. After we went over all the details, she showed us Plan B in case of rain. It was in an open hallway that had a lagoon behind it for the ceremony, it was actually very pretty and for the reception it was a ballroom which was also very nice. But of course I hoped I wouldn’t have to use either location. She said she would call me by 1 on the day of the wedding to give me a weather report and I could decide to have the ceremony/reception outside like I planned or move it inside. She then walked us to our locations and again went over the order of the ceremony and who would do what and when. I chose the beach for the ceremony, the Plaza Colonial for cocktails, and the Olympic Terrace for the reception. I did go with a wedding package I did the Aqua Package which was a sit-down dinner and ½ hr cocktails. After the walk through we went back to her office and our parents paid for the reception by credit card. If you plan on using your credit cards while away definitely call the credit card company and give them a heads up. Fil was able to use his credit card for the reception but the credit card company didn’t let other charges after that go through.

Wedding Day Nov 6th

9:00 am Breakfast I realized midnight the night before that I lost my hair flower when I moved our stuff into the new suite. So I told my mom at breakfast that I lost it and she went to find the florist. The florist is off site so my mom went to Vivianna’s office and she was able to order me 4 orchids that would be at my hair appointment at 130. Problem solved and the live orchids went better in my hairstyle than the hair clip I had! Make sure you eat the day of the wedding. I had breakfast and no lunch, I was starving after we took our pictures. Thank goodness I at least had breakfast.

10:30 am Mani and Pedi with Cristella. I asked for a simple Mani/Pedi. Cristella that did my hair also did this too. It ended up relaxing me a little. The spa has massage pedi chairs which were really comfortable. FYI the spa doesn’t have many polish colors so if you have a certain color in mind bring it with you. I didn’t want to do a French mani/pedi because my nails were too short so I wanted a pale pink color for my nails, I didn’t find the color I had in my head so I went with a brighter pink which I liked because it added some color to all the white I had on. After the mani pedi I ran up to my room to take a shower.

1pm I had to meet Derek and my two brothers (our witnesses) at Vivianna’s office. We had to meet with the civil judge to sign the legal papers because he was unavailable later in the day. We exchanged vows in her office which I was not prepared for so I started to tear up a little. When we left her office we legally married. So we kissed and I rushed off to my hair appointment

130 pm Bridal hair appointment with Cristella. My hair took a little over an hr. Cristella is very precise and makes sure your hair is perfect before you leave. She did a really great job. I was really happy with her. My sister had her hair done by another woman in the salon, I don’t know her name, but she also did a great job. I think she did my mil’s hair also.

3pm I got back to my room and had to get ready very quickly. The photographer came to my room around this time too. She asked if I wanted pictures of me getting ready, I said no. I was already shaking when I was putting my makeup on without someone being in the room. I did my makeup myself. I did a makeup trial at a Laura Mercier counter 2 months ago and the girl taught me how to do my makeup for the wedding. And after two months of practice I did a pretty good job. We expected the retired judge that was doing our symbolic ceremony to be late but since I was running late he was on time. So my mom and sister quickly shoved me in my dress and raced off to the ceremony location. We took back ways and didn’t cut through the pool area so it was a much longer walk. The whole walk there guests were saying congratulations, you look beautiful, etc. every time someone said something to me I started to tear up. I was extremely nervous and anxious for Derek to see me in my dress all done up. I finally got to Vivianna, we both commented about how great the weather was no dark clouds in the sky and I took a deep breath before she sent me down the isle with my father. I was really glad I didn’t wear shoes on the beach because it would have been really hard walking through the sand.

We had our guests meet at 330 at the Sky Bar (Ciel Bar) by Naos Buffet and Vivianna walked them over the ceremony location.

Naos Beach Ceremony 4pm A+ We had Derek’s aunt read the translation. She doesn’t speak a bit of Spanish but it was really easy. The judge would say a paragraph and pass the microphone to her and she would read the translation form a piece of paper. It was about 5 short paragraphs. The ceremony lasted about 5 minutes. After they announced us husband and wife we walked back out the isle and servers handed us champagne. Other guests of the resort were taking pictures of us and videoing us, it was kind of strange. I could see taking pictures from a far but some people would run up to us and take a pic and run off. Dark clouds started to come so our photographer grabbed us and we started taking family pictures. We then took our couple pictures on the beach while everyone else went to cocktails. Vivianna met us on the beach and asked if we wanted to move the reception inside. She was worried about the weather since the clouds looked pretty bad. We decided to keep it outside. We figured if it rained it would probably stop in 10 minutes so we’d chance it and maybe get a little wet.

Plaza Colonial Cocktail Hour 5pm A+ We were able to meet our guests at the cocktail reception. It was longer than the ½ I think because they were holding off setting up some of the final details of the reception area because of the chance of rain. But I was glad we were able to eat some appetizers because I was starving. For cocktail ½ hour we got to choose three appetizers which were mini crab salad tarts, chicken satay with Caribbean spices, and coconut shrimp. All the coconut shrimp were gone because they were so good but I did get to try the chicken skewers and crab tarts which were both good.

Olympic Terrace Reception I think started around 615 and ended around 10pm. The terrace was roped off from the public for the reception. There were some people that would watch us dance or watch the fire dancers. It was kind of fun that they were having fun watching us. I guess our bad dance moves are entertaining. We had Vivianna do our intros but you can have a friend or family member do it. Right after our intros we did our first dance, the DJ played the wrong song. He played our cake cutting song. Derek asked if I wanted to stop by I just said to keep dancing. Our first song was supposed to be Yellow by Coldplay but we ended up dancing to our cake cutting song the Sweetest Thing by U2. It was kind of my fault because I had burned the cds 9pm the night before we left and I didn’t put the songs in the right order. I had put the cake cutting song first instead of our first dance. It really wasn’t a big deal to me, I thought it was funny and laughed over it. But if your first dance song means a lot to you I would have a bm or friend check with the DJ before you are introduced. Then I danced with my dad and Derek danced with his mom. The best man (Derek’s dad) did his speech and then we had dinner. The aqua package we got was a sit down dinner which worked good with our group size. Our menu was a green salad with spinach, goat cheese, and shrimp with vinaigrette (delicious), Lobster tail and beef filet duo It was very delicious and cooked perfectly, you could cut your steak with a butter knife it was so tender (mil asked Vivianna at the meeting if she could get two lobster tails or a lobster tail with extra veggies since she doesn’t eat meat and Vivianna delivered and we asked Vivianna if we could have the steak cooked well), and dessert was Coconut cake with pistachio (really good). The food was incredible, everyone loved it. The servers were outstanding at the reception. If my drink was 1/3 full!, they would bring me a new one. Derek was hammered trying to keep up with all the drinks they brought him lol.

After dinner there was a little bit of a lull because we were surprising our guests with fire dancers so I didn’t want to start the dancing yet. I hired the fire dancers through the resort. They were great. Everyone enjoyed them. After the fire dancers I grabbed some of girls and started dancing. And danced my butt off. We even got Vivianna and Anna Marie out on the dance floor. After that we cut the cake, Vivianna and Anna Marie left. The cake was delicious, we got the basic Palma real cake vanilla with vanilla frosting. The cake was very moist and the frosting was like a whipped cream type. I should of upgraded the cake decor. I just didn’t think I cared that much about the cake until I saw my wedding pictures and I thought it was kind of too plain. After the cake we danced for about another ½ hr 45 minutes. I thought everything went perfectly.

DJ- We hired the French DJ from the resort. He did a really great job. I had given him CDs of the music I wanted but he also played some of his own stuff which went great with the songs that were on my list. And the only mishap was our first dance song but again that was kind of my fault. I would definitely recommend the French DJ.

Photographer A+ Severine from Photosouvenir http://www.photosouvenirpuntacana.com/ Photosouvenir is based in Punta Cana so I got to get the great quality of an outside photographer without paying for travel expenses. I cannot say enough great things about Severine. She did such a great job. She was everywhere capturing every moment. She was very sweet too. She kept apologizing for rushing us because it looked like it was going to rain and it was starting to get dark. She was trying to get the good light. We didn’t feel rushed at all. Derek and I take the worst pictures, for the first 4 yrs of our relationship we had one good picture together. I was so relieved and happy to see all the great pictures that Severine took. I was super happy with her and highly recommend her to all Punta Cana brides. My two regrets that I have is that I couldn’t talk Derek into doing a TTD so I could have more great pictures and that I wasn’t ready earlier so I could have more pictures taken lol. I’m becoming a wedding pic whore.

Translation and legalized documents by Wedo.com.do Since we were legally married in the DR we had to get our documents legalized and translated. We used wedo for this. It was very reasonable and I got the documents back within a week. We are going to use them when we get our Marriage License back.

Summary: Vivianna and the romance department at the Palma Real were excellent. I could tell that Vivianna and Anna Marie really wanted to make sure I had the wedding of my dreams. They were on top of everything. Severine at Photosouvenir is an amazing photographer, if your getting married in Punta Cana hire her! At the end of the week, I had so many or our guests come up and tell us how they had such a great time. I think everyone wants to go back again. We did have a couple of people that weren’t too crazy about us having a DW and they were the ones that thanked us the most and probably had the best time. If anyone wants any more resort details like how the food was at each restaurant, etc. just email me. I had the wedding of my dreams, it was absolutely perfect. It was the best day of my life!
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  Paradisus Palma Real    paolanyc
July 2008

I am back from my PPR wedding and let me tell you it was PERFECT. You have nothing to worry about Viviana and Carolina and the rest of the team could not have been more professional and accomodating.

I had my first meeting with them on Thursday and we went over all of the details and the invoice. She also gave me a walk through of where the ceremony would be ( gazebo), where the cocktail hour would be set up ( plaza colonial) and where on the beach our reception tent would be set up. She also told me what the plan B would be.

Friday evening we had a welcome reception of cocktails and appetizers at the Jellyfish restaurant, the hotel staff was extremely helpful in arranging transportation for all of our guest and every one had a fantastic time, the staff at the Jellyfish was great too and they gave us an extra hour on the house.

Saturday the day of the wedding I woke up early, called Viviana , went and hung out in her office for a bit while I completed my seating arrangements and kept seeing all the activities that were happening. I then went to the spa and had my hair and nails done. Everyone was wonderful and professional.
At all times I was in touch with Viviana or Carolina, they were always around throughout the day no matter what I needed.. We had the pre-ceremony cocktails in the lobby bar and what a great idea this was, since when it was time for the ceremony to start , they were just able to move everyone all at once. The ceremony was held in the gazebo and the justice of the peace did it in spanish and Viviana translated, the whole thing lasted about 15 minutes. We had the trio perform, and the trio is spectacular, our guests absolutely loved it.
Ladies take in that moment when you are walking down the aisle it truly is special. After we said I do, there were waiters with champagne and mineral water ( for the non drinkers) and we took some pictures with family and friends and then Viviana escorted everyone to the cocktail hour so that we could take our formal portraits. Our photographer was Juan Guzman and he too was just wonderful. It was extremely hot so we were in a bit of a rush to have our pictures taken because 1) we wanted to join our guests and 2) my groom was dying to get out of his suit. So Juan if you happen to be reading this , we did not mean to be rude we were just dying of heat
When we arrived at our cocktail hour to the applause of all of our guests and everything looked beautiful and the food was great. We made the typical Dominican Moonshine drink "mamajuana" our signiture cocktail and hour guests were thrilled. We had a guest book that had a polaroid camera so everyone loved taking random polaroids and signing the book.

Afterwards, Viviana once again escorted everyone to our tent on the beach and once everyone was seated she announced us to everyone. We had the American/Dominican mix DJ and you know what he was GREAT...early on during dinner he played lots of R&B and ballads and then to get everyone dancing upbeat latin music followed by tons of pop, hip-hop, lots of popular music mixed with Latin music.
We did the buffet and everyone raved about the food. We also had the fire dancers, fire works and the cigar roller...I know that this was a decadent splurge but we really wanted to make sure our guests had a great time, since they were coming from the DR, Texas, Florida, California, and even Idaho. After the fire works show Viviana told me that she was going home. She could not have been more great and I do not know what I would have done without her and her team. When the wedding ended we wanted to do it all over again. Afterwards I changed out of my dress and met our guests at the casino followed by the lounge in the hotel.
It really was my perfect wedding. The decor was everything I asked for, the food was great, the music wonderful and most importantaly our guests left thanking us for showing them such a great few days in the Dominican Republic.

Here are a few pics, I will post more as I get them.
http://slideshow.dfotoart.com/atm/album/

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  Paradisus Palma Real    Calli
March 2008

I keep telling people HAVE A DESTINATION WEDDING! Not only are you not spending your life savings by inviting your parents friends you hardly know and people you’re not really that close to, but it’s the only way for your friends and family to actually get to know one another as they hang out by the pool for 3 days drinking together.

A total of 40 people attended the wedding and had stayed at the Paradisus our guests stayed for a total of 3 - 7 days. I can honestly say that going to the Paradisus was the deal of the century and we will never have a better vacation. The comment I heard most frequently from my guests was that “this was the way to have a wedding”. Not a single person had a bad time drinking all day by the swim-up bar, lounging on the bali beds, or gambling at the casino.

The wedding we had was PERFECT! We were very fortunate to have great weather. Kelly Hunt, the wedding planner, and her team did an excellent job. There wasn’t a single person who didn’t have fun. In fact, my friends (who had traditional weddings) told me that they’re trying to convince one of my other friends to have a destination wedding.

We chose the Chill Out Chic package and I would HIGHLY recommend this package over any other. Something about not having to sit at tables forced everyone to get up and have a good time. People might not find this ideal because of older guests. However, my 82 year old grandma was dancing and having a great time. Also, we upgraded our food options to the BBQ and upgraded the bar to a full-international bar. I would highly recommend these upgrades for any package.

The only thing that I might have changed was the DJ. We actually created a list that covered about 7 hours worth of music (because we anticipated that he probably wouldn’t know our music choices nor speak English very well). Any time he would go off of our list, he would select a really awful song. However, once I told my guests to continuously go up and request music off of our list, he would play the music from the list. However, if someone is planning a wedding there, I would be very specific about the songs you want played and that you ONLY want the music played off of that list and nothing should be repeated. To be honest, this was a minor issue/annoyance and in the whole scheme of things it didn’t really matter because any music that was repeated were songs that everyone liked and the DJ was willing to play any songs requested. Everyone had a great time! I think the Casino really made the night.
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Paradisus Palma Real Christie
September 2007

I wouldn't have changed a thing. The wedding coordinator, Kelly Hunt, was amazing. All throughout the planning, she was always quick to respond with e-mails. And when we arrived she greeted us and sent champagne to to room for us. We met with her the next day to go over where we wanted the ceremony and reception and what we needed to do. We used the resort photographer. He took great pictures. The reception was buffet style and all the food was deliscious. We used the DJ. He did a wonderful job! Everything was so fun and no stress!!! Even after the reception was over, some of us stayed behind at one of the tables to continue the celebration. They brought us cigars and bottles of wine!! Never once asked us to leave, just let us enjoy ourselves for a few more hours.

All in all, I would recommend this resort to anyone, for a vacation or a wedding. There were people of all ages there! And all my guests and ourselves had the best time of our lives!!!

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Paradisus Palma Real Callie ~ Texas
July 2007

My name is Callie and my husband and I just got married at The Paradisus Palma Real on July 3, 2007. We flew in from San Antonio, Texas on June 30th along with about 40 friends and family.

We took about a 20 min. shuttle ride from the airport to the resort. Upon arrival, we were greeted by friendly staff. The resort was absolutely breathtaking and even more beautiful than all the pictures posted on the website. We were upgraded to Royal Service without even asking. Our room was gorgeous and had a beautiful view (Room 3090). I went into many of our guests' rooms and they were all just as wonderful as ours- marble floors, plasma tv, small living area, jacuzzi tub, and comfortable bed.

We met with Kelly, the wedding coordinator, the next morning and went over everything for the wedding. I can't say enough nice things about her. She works so hard to make sure everything is exactly how you want it. She spent a lot of time with us and had everything laid out and in order. I would advise anyone having a civil ceremony with the judge to be flexible. Our wedding was scheduled for 12 noon on Tues. July, 3rd and we got a call on Monday evening saying that the judge wouldn't be able to make it until 4pm. It was very last minute notice and changed a lot of our plans, but we were very laid back and just went along with the flow and it turned out exactly how we wanted it to. The day of the wedding we had the videographer and photographer come to the room where all the girls were dressing and having champagne. Then they led us down when they got the word from Kelly. The decorations and flowers were exactly as I had envisioned them. The ceremony took about 10 min. and then they brought everyone champagne down for a toast and then we all took pictures on the beach. After that we went to the Gabi terrace to have a few drinks for about an hour and a half- and this is when we cut the cake and threw the bouquet and garter. At 6:45 we had reservations for dinner at Bana for the whole group. We were divided among 3 tables and were all close together. It turned out perfect. I would highly recommend getting the videographer and photographer. They did a really good job and you get your pictures and video within a day or two. The only thing that went wrong was we never saw our cake after we cut it to take pictures. We were planning on eating it at Bana but it was never served.

The guys played golf and went deep sea fishing. The fishing is not very good during this season- we talked to several people who had no luck. Even though golf green fees are included you still have to rent the cart and clubs and buy balls, so it ends up being around $100. We mainly hung out at the main pool with the swim up bar. I would definitely suggest making reservations in advance for dinner. We ate at Bana twice- once at the Teppanyaki table (which was one of our favorite meals) and then after our wedding with a pre-set menu. We ate at Gabi beach(which is only for Royal Service guests) for lunch and dinner and it was really good. We ate breakfast at Vento twice. I would suggest trying to eat in a restaurant for lunch as opposed to the buffet. Sometimes it had good stuff like a pasta bar but other times it just had a ton of random things that didn't even go together. The breakfast buffet was very good though. The drinks are pretty good, they have a lot of premium brand liqours. The bottled and canned beer was not very cold at all. You had to get their domestic beer, Presidente, if you wanted a cold beer. A lot of our guests went to the casino most nights or sometimes to the disco, although there weren't ever very many people in the disco. Also, they close the pool at 7pm. Monday night we all went to the Dominican party night which was a lot of fun. They have a big buffet set up on the middle square and vendors are selling things.

The beaches are gorgeous but they do have quite a bit of seaweed. The water is turqouise and blue, it is beautiful. The weather is very hot and humid- even though we're used to it in south Texas! The people of the Dominican are very friendly and nice.

Our guests stayed 4 nights and my husband and I stayed 6 nights. It was the best vacation of our lives and something we will always remember. Nobody in our group had any problems at all with anything. Our wedding far exceeded our expectations and we are so glad we chose Paradisus Palma Real. We are already planning a vacation to go back.If you have any questions, feel free to email me at calliembowman@yahoo.com. I also have pictures I can email out.


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Paradisus Palma Real Carol ~ Brooklyn, NY
July 2007

On June 29th 2007 my husband and I got married on the beach, which was incredible. My wedding coordinator Kelly did a great job HOWEVER my experience was a bit of a nightmare and I would like to share with future brides and grooms to ensure this never happens to anyone on their wedding day. Upon checking in we were given a room with two double beds when the resort knew why we were there. We had to battle to get the king size bed that we booked, we also brought 70 guests with us- they managed to piss off at least half of them by screwing up their rooms as well. Back to my wedding.. I ordered enough flowers for my groomsmen but some how came up two short (which we paid for in advance); when I inquired about the flowers I was told “We set them down in a box by the beach and someone must have taken them” Who would really do that? We also paid a great deal of money to rent out the Olympus Ball Room which at one point became so hot that most of our guests had to go outside for fresh air. We requested numerous times that the ac be raised after about an hour or so of being told I will take care of that we where then informed that the ac only stays on for the time you pay for it. That is pretty funny because we paid for the room from 6:30pm-midnight they shut it off at 9pm. After that was solved I realized that two tables had no favors on them (I brought more than enough), we later found the boxes opened & stuffed in a candle off to the side. Apparently one of the bus boys took the liberty of taking about 10 favors for him self. Around 11:30 the lights went off for about 10 minutes when they came back on one of my Swarovski Champagne flutes disappeared. The resort did nothing about it. In short my advice is if you wish to marry there –Do not bring anything expensive with you & give your guests their favors the night before. I hope this helps somebody.
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Paradisus Palma Real Lisa
July 2006

My husband and I just returned from the beautiful along with 31 guests who attended our wedding at the resort. This was our first visit to Punta Cana and the Dominican Republic. We stayed at the resort from July 4th – July 12th and had a wonderful time. We chose to stay in the Royal Service because they offer “The Paradisus Free Wedding Package” if the couple stays 5 or more nights in Royal Service, so it was worth it for us. We were in Room 2098 and had an excellent view of the ocean and royal service pool area. We were very happy with the resort and our room.

I am so happy that we choose the Paradisus Palma Real for our wedding. Everything was perfect thanks to Andrea at Destination Wedding Travel, who helped us choose this resort and made all of the travel arrangements for our guests, and Wendy del Rosario the Palma Real Wedding Coordinator, who did a wonderful job. We met with Wendy the day we arrived to discuss all the details. She is very organized and didn’t get annoyed with us when we changed the ceremony location several times. She set up a welcome dinner at Bana the evening before the wedding, for us and all of our guests. I was extremely impressed with the ceremony site decorations; it was more than I had ever imagined. There were beautiful flowers and white covered chairs for our guests. We had a close friend play the violin while we all waited on the Judge. The Judge was about 15 minutes late, but I had been warned and explained this to my guests ahead of time. I waited in my room with my Maid of Honor until Wendy called me to announce the Judge’s arrival, and then she came to my room and walked us down to the ceremony site. The Judge did the ceremony in Spanish and there was a gentleman who translated everything in English. After the wedding we had a champagne toast on the beach and then our guests headed to the lobby bar for a cocktail hour. After our pictures we joined our guests and then went to our private reception held at the Royal Service Restaurant – Gabi Beach. I was very happy with the way they set everything up. The cake was delicious and they did it exactly the way I wanted. Everything was above and beyond my expectations, I could not have asked for more. When we arrived at the resort we had champagne in our room, we got breakfast in bed the morning after the wedding, and had a dinner under the stars for the two of us after our guests left. The dinner under the stars was fantastic. We were right on the beach down by the ocean with two private servers, candle light and lanterns. They even had some one from the staff climb up a tree and direct the beach lights away from us. Everyone really went out of their way to make our stay special. Of course I can not forget the photographer. I wasn’t expecting much from the contracting resort photographer but I was absolutely amazed with the photos he took. Alejandro Galera with GB Studio & Media did an incredible job. He has a desk set up in the downstairs lobby so he is always out in the resort taking pictures of people. He was very pleasant to work with and was not at all pushy. He showed up about 30 minutes before the wedding to take pictures of me and my maid of honor and then walked with us down to the beach and stayed with us until the reception was over. The next day he let us take our time choosing which photos we wanted, and with a thousand pictures to choose from, it took awhile. He takes pride in his work and it shows - our pictures are AMAZING! We did have one small problem with our DJ at the reception. The music was fine during the dinner but when it came time for everyone to start dancing something happened with his computer programmed music and the first song kept starting over and over. He apologized over and over, and I felt bad for him but we ended up moving everything over to the Onyx Chill Out Lounge.

The resort is absolutely gorgeous and words can not describe how pretty it is. I thought the food was pretty good for an all-inclusive resort. I loved the Royal Service and took full advantage of the aromatherapy pillows every night and we had two wonderful Butlers, George and Jefferson went out of their way to help us. I thought there was plenty to keep us entertained. Each night the resort did some kind of a show or party. The Monday evening Dominican party and the Thursday evening beach party were the best. Our group had a blast in the casino, several people won money. And our group was always in the Onyx Chill Out Lounge dancing and then we hit the buffet to end the night. I had a couple of massages and they were probably the best massages I have ever had - ask for Wendy, she doesn't speak English well but she is very nice and gives a great massage. The girls in the hair salon did a good job on our hair, they didn't speak much English either but I brought a picture so that helped. Overall everyone was very friendly to us and our group. We all did our best to try to make an effort to speak some Spanish even if it was a word or two. And I can't forget Jose!!! Jose is the BEST bar tender in Punta Cana and we were lucky enough to have him bar tending at our reception. Our wedding was truly a perfect week in paradise.

We used WEDO to prepare our wedding documents are they were extremely quick and everything was done right. I would definitely recommend using their services. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or would like to see pictures. lisa_smyth@bellsouth.net
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Ocean Blue/Sand Valerie
August 2008

Once we had checked in, I waited until the next morning after breakfast to see if the wedding co-ordinator had been in touch. As there was so much confusion at check in, I thought it would be best to go to guest services to find her. They managed to track her down on the phone and I spoke to her, she had an appointment booked with us for 2pm that day, so i breathed a sigh of relief, they knew we were here. I was thinking that if they didn't know we were coming at check, they might not know we were here for a wedding (paranoid I know but............)

We had the meeting with Massiel (I think that was her name, I don't think Julissa is doing weddings any more). She has all of our e-mails printed out (although there wasn't that many, we were only having a small one). She also had our translated documents from WEDO, which I heave a great sigh of relief. I knew they would be there, but as I hadn't had any confirmation from WEDO that they had sent them or the hotel that the hotel had recieved them, you do tend to look for hicups when there are none. Any way, we sorted out the flowers, the trio, where we were having our wedding dinner. We did originally want Labrassa, but someone had already hired it out as a private reception so we could'nt let us have it there so we had it in the Dominican Restraunt, the wedding co-ordinator suggested this to us as she said out of all of the restraunts, this one was the more elegant looking, so we went with her suggestion. For the flowers you have to pay before they are delivered as it it is cash on delivery, so we dropped the money off the next day. We also found out that our wedding was now at 3pm instead of 2pm, which we were pleased about also. We asked about the photographer and she said we had to deal direct with the photo shop, so after finishing with her we went there. We opted to have the silver option, you get 2 photographers, 100 photos - photos taken before, during and after the ceremony. We also booked to have it videod. Once we had been there, we went to the spa, I wanted to have the bride package. I booked that. So upto that point everthing was sorted.

The Wedding Day
On the day of the wedding, at the spa I had a manicure, pedicure, hair and make-up done. I was very pleased with the hair and make-up. I also booked for my three children to have their hair done, but wasn't very impressed with what they did, I could have done better myself. Once that was done, I went back to the room to wait for my other two girls to finish at the spa. Husband to be went to the best man's room to get ready. The only real hitch on the day was that when my daughter went to get into her dress, the zip broke. So, while my other daugher was doing the ties on my dress, my other daughter was in front of me so I could sew her into her dress. That was about the worst thing that happened, so really the day went perfectly.

The photographer came around 2:30ish to take pictures of me in my room and around the hotel. The other photographer went to the best man's room to take pictures of the groom.

At about 2.55pm, massille came to take us down to the beach, we finishe doing the photos around the hotel and got on the golf cart. The beach wasn't far, I probably could have walked there. Once we got the the beach, we walked to where the ceremony was going to take place. Whilst walking past the beach restraunt, I heard loads of cheers from everyone around, that was really nice.

We had the ceremony, it took around 15 mins, we had the champagne and then we took lots of photos on the beach. Once we had finished with the beach, we took photos in the grounds of the hotel. We probably finished all of the photos by about 4:30pm. The photographers that we had were great, especially Diana, she tooks lots of lovely photos.

Once all of the photos were taken, we went back to our rooms for a little while, just to cool down. As we were having our meal around 7:30pm, we decided to go bowling. So around 5:30 we went to the bowling alley and played until our dinner. Its was great fun, we don't have any professional photos of this but the ones we have, I think are wonderful. We had to have two lanes, I won on the lane I was on and the best man won on the other lane. We finsished this just before 7:30, so went straight to the restraunt for our dinner. I actually can't remember what it was that I ate, but I did enjoy it, and so did everyone else. We originally want to go the La Brassa, but everyone agreed, with hindsight, that we were glade where we went. We didn't find anything wrong with La Brassa, but we did prefer the Dominican Restraunt. After we had eaten, we came out and had to have a few photos done on the swinging seats, so we did. We then went over to the bar near the reception to have a drink, but we were all really tired and didn't stay there long. We went back to our rooms. This was probably about 10pm. We had had a wonderful day, I couldn't have asked for a better wedding, exactly how we wanted it.

You can see photos at:
http://www.whocares100.vivaciti.net/photostore/Toby/weddingalbum/index.html

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to get in contact
Valerie@whocares100.freeserve.co.uk
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Ocean Blue/Sand Tiffany
November 2006

I will start off by saying this was not our first choice in resort. In fact we looked at many others before we decided on this hotel. But, No one ever said that weddings were so popular down south, and that you should book a year in advance! To get the exact time and date you want. After picking this one, I knew we would not be disappointed. I was way off! It was amazing!! I loved everything about this place! The people, the staff (amazing service) the grounds, the beach. It was a paradise.

I dealt with Ana the wedding Co-ordinator by email. She was great. There is a little bit of a language barrier there. But she truly tries hard to get everything you want. I think I sent Ana a million emails as to what I wanted and how things should go. I was nervous about getting married there and not seeing anything before hand. We meet with Ana the day after we arrived, to go over everything. I was a little nervous because she just kept reassuring me everything was going to go well! We went over all our options again for food, flowers and location. We spend an extra $500.00 American for our extras. There are many nice little things included in your package if you book so many rooms, which was worth it! The couples massages, discount at the spa, romantic dinner (you have a chose, go for the dinner on the beach!! Truly romantic!!) ! Truly wonderful!!

We bought real flowers; your choice the style and colours of the flowers (yellow roses are included in the basic package, which I saw in a wedding later in the week, it looks really nice) you should bring a picture or know the flowers names. I forgot my pictures and don’t know flower names. My bouquet was just what I wanted! Plus we opted to buy real flowers for the groom, and our parents. We also got a centre piece. The flowers looked beautiful.

The dinner we upgraded our friends and family members to lobster, for those who wanted it for an extra charge. Everyone got to chose there own appetizers and main meals from a menu. Some of the food choices were not the fanciest but everyone enjoyed choosing there own meals.

Plus we bought extra champagne for the toast. We bought three extra bottles which wasn’t really needed, but we certainly ended up with way more then three.

We also paid for white chairs (well worth it!) The chairs are white plastic. If you buy pay for the extra charge they put chair covers on and it makes the hugest difference.

The morning of the wedding it was cloudy!! We got married on May 9th, 2006 which is rainy season. It was so cloudy you couldn't see any blue sky!!! I was so nervous, but I told myself I'll just get all stressed out! I joined all my girls for a buffet breakfast by the time we were done the sun was shiny!!! No clouds in site!! I went back to my room and changed and headed to the spa for a massage and milk bath. It’s a really nice spa. The only thing is they ran out of warm water! LOL and the milk bath really sticks

to your skin!! Not a good idea for your wedding day! I also got a French manicure done. It was really nice and cheap. Most prices are close to going to a spa at home except the odd thing is cheaper. I did my own hair; I was scared for them to do my hair!! They do a great job!! I saw others getting there hair done for weddings later in the week. The wind is so strong your hair can't last on its own!

The set up is done in the morning, most of it. So you can take look at it to see if you like it or need to change anything. Plus if you want to add any other touches to the set up you can. I had friends add a blue ribbon along the chairs the colour of my maid of honours dress, to give it a special touch. Plus I had them add a little table for our guests to sign a guest book.

I received my flowers just before we were to leave for the ceremony. They were late at phoning to let us know that the judge was going to be late. 45 minutes late!!! They run on Dominican time! We had wanted our ceremony at 6pm for sunset!! But the only time they had was 4:30pm when we booked, which turned into 5:15pm buy the time we finished the ceremony (7 minutes!) the toast and pictures it was almost dark and dinner time. Dinner was served on the restaurant on the beach. The restaurant was shut down to everyone else! So it was very private!! The only thing is the lighting is a little low for pictures. It was very romantic and like paradise.

The photographer was great. We had decided before we left that we would not pay for pictures. Well my husband had decided that. Until we saw them.

They took pictures for free, which were way better then any of ours. They gave us prints and a cd for a very good price. The only thing is the print sizes are not a standard size. I was nervous seeing all those people on the beach in our photos, but there is no stranglers in there photos! Video taping. We had gotten a camcorder for our wedding present, because I wanted the wedding taped. It was great our friend taped it, the only thing is the wind is so strong on the beach you can't hear anything.

The wedding certificate came by fed-ex. I was a little nervous about that. Ana contacted me by email when it came back to her to confirm our mailing address. It was just over 3 months before we had it. If your from Canada this is a good site to get all your documents translated, for the ceremony and after for your certificate. www.dominicanweddings.net

I sent a picture of a wedding cake to Ana, and they did a replica for our wedding. It's blue with sea shells, it was the first they have ever done, and it was beautiful!

The translator did an okay good. His English wasn't as bad as other people have written in their commits. It’s a little tough to hear, from the wind, or it was just me, thinking of how nice it was getting married on the beach. There is only one judge in Punta Cana, so chances are she will be late. The heat did not bother us what so ever. The guys wore linen pants with long sleeve shirts, and didn't complain once. The breeze is extremely nice.

It wasn’t the hottest day, but still warms enough.
All in all it was amazing. It was cheap. Everyone loved the resort. The honeymoon suite is certainly worth it. It is awesome. The service is great!!! The staff even called me by my new last name the next day!! Just little stupid things like that made it amazing. All if the elite staffs know you by name. The upgrades are certainly worth it, especially for the service, they wait on you all day! Plus they wrote our names in their newsletter congratulations on the wedding. Again stupid little things, that made it that much better! It was a dream!!! I couldn't have been happier with our decision. Ana works day and night to get everything right for you, and trust her. She did an amazing job!!!

If your thinking about getting married down south. This resort is a must!! You won't be disappointed!!!
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Coral Hamaca Susan
June 2009

Arrival: March 14th-26th
My husband and I travelled to this resort with 45 friends and family the week of March 12th-26th and were married on the beach! I have nothing but fantastic things to say about the hotel.

The Wedding:
From the very first day of planning everything was fantastic. We dealt with the resort wedding coordinator Mildred. She was amazing and always very attentive to every detail!!!! We maintained frequent communication and she was always very diligent at making sure all my questions were answered and requests were fulfilled. Planning from so far away can be concerning for many, however Mildred was very professional and judging from the final product we recieved- very good at what she does.

We had a beautiful ceremony on the beach under a gazebo as the sun set. The beach was beautifully decorated with a gorgeous bamboo gazebo and beautiful flowers. We then were served with hor d'oeuvres and cocktails while we took pictures and prepared for the reception dinner. We had a full reception with dinner, Dj and dancing. The ballroom was BEAUTIFULLY decorated with large white calla lilly centrpieces, gorgeous linens, a beautiful cake among many other well chosen decorations. She was very good at capturing my vision for our wedding and putting it into motion!

My husband and I would like to thank Mildred and her entire staff for all their dedication and hard work. They truly made our wedding day a beautiful and truly special day that we will cherish for always.

The Resort:
We have nothing negative to say about this resort. The resort itself is beauitful, clean, very well kept. The gardens on the grounds are spectacular! It is true that there was construction going on at the resort while we were there as they extend the resort and work on renovating and upgrading. I read many complaints about this and I'm not sure why. Travelleres complain that the resort needs to renovate and upgrade but yet they complain when they do so. We have to remember that resorts are open year round and essentially there is never a good time to do this! Personally, we didn't find the noise to be a nuissance and spent every day on the beach right where the construction was. If it is a bother there is a large pool on the other side of the resort where its very quiet all day.

Check In:
Alright, so check in does take quite some time HOWEVER, keep in mind that on any given day bus loads of people are coming in at the same time. The front desk staff tried to do their best as quickly as they could. Check in was only at 3:00 and we arrived before that so we were given our bracelets and then ventured into the resort to eat and check out our new home for the next two weeks. Once we returned our rooms were ready.

Rooms:
Our room was SPECTACULAR! We were in the main building on the 4th floor. We had a beautiful room, with a king size bed and a bathroom that was almost the same size as the room itself. Our bathroom had a walk in shower, toilet room, and a large jacuzzi tub! Let's not forget the incredible view!!!! Ocean view right from our window!

Restaurants:
The food was fantastic! The buffet had a great variety of food on any given night. Every night there was a theme: Mexican, Seafood, Dominican, Italian etc. The a la carte restaurants were also very good. They have 3: Dominican which was the BEST one; Mexican also very good and an Italian one.

Staff & Service:
I have to say that the staff were all very friendly. There was never a moment where I would pass by a staff member without gettting an "Hola". They are all very nice and eager to please. I can understand that some travellers have mentioned having received some negative treatment HOWEVER i think they way we treat those that serve us goes a long way. I saw many guest rudely demanding drinks, rudely speaking to front desk staff and often forgetting their manners. Treat others as you'd like to be treated- a smile and some manners go a long way!

The Animation staff were also amazing. For many people in my group it was their first time down south at an All-inclusive resort. My guests were thrilled with the amount of activities that were planned through out the day to keep them busy. The Animation staff were always very kind, out going and understanding. A simple "no gracias" was enough when you didn't want to participate. These individuals work very long hours and are always expected to have a smile on their face and that was exactly what we saw. The nightly shows were also good and fun to watch at night. We didn't miss one the entire time we were there.

Final Verdict:
I would definately recommend this resort to a friend. We all had a fantastic time and truly enjoyed ourselves. I was dissapointed with all the negative reviews that I read prior to our departure and was eager to see for myself. Having been there, I have to say that some travellers must be very hard to please. When down south we always have to remember that things aren't done as fast paced as North America so sit back, relax and enjoy the ride!!!

saires14@hotmail.com


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Coral HamacaShalaina
August 2005

I have to say, my wedding was beautiful. We were married on the white beach at the Hamaca Coral by Hilton at sunset. My wedding planner Milie and Janna were so accommodating and lovely. My husband, a resident of Boca Chica, and I were in good hands from the word go. We met at Miss Coral (The Hamaca) and I had always dreamed of a wedding on the beach. I am from New York City.

The day, the clouds, the clear blue water, the coral, the guests, the reception, the cake, the decorations were awesome. The planners answered every email, coordinated everything with the restaurants, guess passes for my husband’s family, the restaurant of my choice, flowers, tents, chairs, etc. All I had to do was have my passport, birth certificate and money.

My ceremony was in Spanish and English. My wedding walk was to any song of my choice. (At Last by Etta James.) And it was perfect. Because I chose to marry on the beach, my wedding was not private. The guess of the hotel watched and took photos as if we were all family. (Much like all the residents of Boca Chica, they treat you as if you are family.) I had a friend take photos to save on the expense but Miss Coral had their house photographer to the same. If you like the photo, then you could buy as many as you like. So I bought them all. (smile) The photos were amazing. I was so very happy on my special day.
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Sunscape Casa Del MarJulie
July 2007 I just returned from a 10 day stay at Sunscape Casa Del Mar in La Romana. I traveled with about 20 other people for my wedding at the resort and must say I am delighted at how it turned out. We arrived on July 4th and the wedding was on July 7th. I got married at the pier at 5 in the afternoon and then had a semi-private dinner right next to the pier. It was so relaxed and Miriam (the wedding planner) helped me plan in 15 minutes flat - two days before! The pictures (all 249 of them) were majestic! The photographer (provided by the hotel) was extremely friendly. I must recommend you do not get the highest priced wedding package as if you want a video and all of the pictures you will still have to pay additional (in dollars). I ended up paying 700.00 for both the video and a CD of all the pictures – my package only gave me 24 and they were very small – any additional pictures would cost $8 each so I talked him to give me the CD for 400 (originally he wanted 600). You really do not need the private dinner either (an additional $35.00 per person) as you can have an entire section of the outside part of a restaurant for you (and they decorate the chairs and tables) you also have the waiters so that was enough for me (and saved me $2,500.00).

I felt the need to write this review because this resort is one worth noting and one to which I will definitely return. I also used Debbie’s page when searching for a resort to marry in the Dominican Republic but didn’t find many reviews on this particular one. The service at this resort was unbelievable – they were all pleasant, eager to please and cater to your every need. My wedding coordinator, Miriam was extremely helpful to say the least (she even brought a rug and a basket from her home for use at my wedding). The resort itself is meticulously clean. There are two pools (both of very nice size) and one Jacuzzi. All restaurants are included and no reservations are required (though not all are open every night). There is nightly entertainment which was pretty good as well. You get to know many of the entertainers as they seem to work at the resort nonstop and are quick to say hi! I found the gift shop to be a bit overpriced but down the beach you will find the same items from the locals at a fraction of the price and once or twice a week the resort allows locals to set up stands with items for sale (talk them down, they expect it and you will get a better deal). Here is a link for the wedding pictures.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0EcuW7Vw5bMXJw¬ag=1

I highly recommend this hotel for families and those seeking relaxation.
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Sunscape Casa Del MarKrista and Paul
May 2007

We had a 1 1/2 bus ride to the resort which is in La Romana. We were upgraded to a club room so had a beautiful view of the ocean and had wine and a fruit plate waiting for us. The rest of the group (24 people) were spread out over the resort, but is a compact one, so easy to walk around. The beach is so beautiful. The food at the restaurants was 5 star! We ate as a group of 20 or so each dinner and they made a huge table for us.

We met with Shirley Sanchez (the chief concierge and wedding coordinator) on Monday morning, she was so great, she had all of my emails since last October printed off and was totally prepared. We chose the Sunscape of Love package. We picked out our flowers, went through the ceremony, picked a horse and carriage and chose the meal and the music for the gala reception. We then went and toured the pier where the ceremony would be. We had our engagement shots done on Monday afternoon.

On Wed (the wedding day) the sky was dark in the morning, but then lightened up for the afternoon, which was a relief. My maid of honour and myself had our hair done, but with all of the humidity the curls did not stay. We brought our own photographer from Canada and as you can see from her pictures, she was fabulous. The horse and carriage was not working, so we went via minivan to the pier, which was fine. The ceremony was quick and easy and we said our own vows. We then had toasts and our guests blew bubbles and threw confetti (which we brought). We then went for an hour of pictures while the guests had a drink.

Reception
If you have the option of having a private reception, DO IT! It did cost more but was totally worth it. We had it on the beach in a secluded area. We chose a U shape table placement and chose the colours. We had a choice of grilled lobster or beef tenderloin. The meal and waiter service was fabulous. We had soft music going throughout the dinner. After dinner we had speeches. We had a dance floor set up next to the table with a DJ. We had our first dance and then a father daughter dance. I brought CD's with all of the music. We then danced until 12pm!! It was so much fun and decadent dancing on the beach under the stars. We closed the place down and then we headed to the disco and closed that place down!! The staff decorated our room with tons of roses, congratulations banners and a honeymooners banner on the door. We had a beautiful champagne breakfast in bed.

All in all, it was a great trip and experience.
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Riu Bambu Scott & Nicole - London, ON, Canada
January 2005

As a bride-to-be I found Debbie’s website invaluable and have decided to post my detailed wedding review in the hopes of helping others – even if just a little!

Caution:
This is a VERY long entry! I know how important LOTS of information is for a bride-to-be trying to make a decision!

My husband and I were married Saturday December 18th, 2004 on the grounds of the Riu Bambu @ approximately 4:30pm. We initially picked Grand Paradise Bavaro for our wedding and trip, but were extremely disappointed by their staff and the way they handled our inquiries. We decided on the Riu Bambu because of the wedding and resort reviews and the price was reasonable for our guests.

Resort
Our invited family members and friends all stayed at the Riu Bambu. Prior to our trip, I emailed the resort twice in regards to building # preference. However, upon our arrival we were placed further back on the resort grounds (Building #15 and 16). We could have complained, but were thankful to all have rooms close to one another. And it wasn’t that bad of a walk to the beach.

I suggest reading the many resort reviews on this website. There’s a lot of helpful information given by past travellers. Although we had the opportunity to visit other resorts on the complex, we were content staying at the Bambu most of our trip. The beach is amazing. Beautiful sand and amazing water. We spent most of the day between the beach and the swim-up bar. There weren’t many kids to crowd the pool and that was a major bonus! Food was great, dinner service was good, reception staff spoke english very well, Animation Team had fun games every day, and no one in our group had problems with their air conditioners! There really isn’t too much to complain about. It was a great resort with attentive staff.

Wedding Information
Preparation
We “shopped” around for resorts that still had December 18th still available for our wedding. Even though we hadn’t officially booked with the Riu yet, Magnolia reserved the day and time for us just incase. She was the main reason we chose the Riu because she was quick to respond to any questions or concerns, efficient and kind. That helped to put a lot of worries at ease.

Legal Documentation:
To be translated & legalized – Declaration of Single Status (notarized) & birth certificate.
Altogether, translation was $240 CDN and legalization was $452 CDN. We also included our photocopied passports to send to the DR Consulate in Toronto. For our Declaration of Single Status we used the template provided through Debbie’s website. We paid $20 CDN each for the notarization, but I’m sure we could have gotten it cheaper if we looked hard enough. Refer to the Consulate’s website for all paperwork needed, correct addresses and who to make your money orders out too. (Debbie’s website provides the link to their site.) We sent our complete package – via Courier and with a self addressed Courier envelope for quick return – on August 3rd and received it August 9th! Four business days! We were impressed!

Witnesses: Your wedding coordinator will request photocopies of your witnesses’ passports. This will be needed before the wedding day. We faxed copies of our witnesses’ passports to the wedding coordinator well in advance, just to be on the safe side. But looking back, giving the copies the day you arrive is advance enough. Note: Witnesses can not be blood related.

Attire
My husband wore a grey Ralph Lauren suit (minus the jacket) that he had previously owned. He also wore a long sleeved, white dress shirt with NO breast pocket and a pink tie. I wore a strapless silk, floor length gown. We both wore flip-flops. Surprisingly, neither of was uncomfortably hot in what we wore. The breeze from the ocean really helped. BRIDES: I wore MAC make up and highly recommend it. It’s a tad bit expensive, but worth it. My makeup stayed on the entire night and didn’t run once! I have long hair and I know putting it all up in a bun helped to keep me cool too.

Ceremony Location
The Riu Bambu offers 2 locations for a wedding ceremony to take place. One location is the gazebo. Before arriving to the resort I saw a picture of the gazebo and thought it was very pretty. However, upon seeing the gazebo in person I was quite disappointed. I just wasn’t pleased with how crowded the area felt. We really wanted to feel the sand on our feet too. However, the “beach” location was worse. Out of the whole beach area, it seems the resort decided on the most frequented spot. The “aisle” was walking up a wooden boardwalk to a restaurant, walking down a few stairs, crossing the boardwalk and standing on sand with absolutely no privacy. I can now understand why, in past reviews, the brides mentioned all the onlookers. Scott and I decided to scope out the resort and pick a spot ourselves. We found the perfect area of sand and palm trees in between the Mamajuana restaurant and the Children’s Day Care. We talked to Magnolia and she said that it was fine to use that location. I had packed our own ceremony decorations. I used tulle for the aisle and mosquito netting (used for a bed) was hung from the palms for out “alter”. We purchased the lowest wedding package ($500), so we were guaranteed decorations by the resort as well. Instead of flowers, we asked to have only their special palm tree leaf arches erected all around our small ceremony site. It was such a good idea! The 5 or so arches encircled our guests and us and looked like a privacy wall therefore eliminating all the uninvited guests. We would have had a lot of onlookers crowding us if it wasn’t for this “barrier”.

The Wedding
As mentioned, we purchased the $500 package. This package included: ceremony location decoration, judge, translator, and pianist. We were given champagne after the pronouncement even though it wasn’t (officially) part of the package. The only difference between the $500 and $700 package is the bride’s flowers and groom’s boutonniere. So, you’re basically paying $200 for flowers. Instead, I brought a silk flower bouquet from home. Not having a boutonniere wasn’t much of an issue considering it would probably have wilted in the sun. (Just a note: If you were to use real flowers from the resort and you wanted to dry them and take them home for safekeeping, you may be accosted at customs. You’re not to bring flowers and the like back into the country.) With the $1000 package you only receive 24 pictures from the professional photographer. Ultimately, we decided to go with the lowest package and spend the extra money on all the pictures from the photographer. For $350 US we were given the CD with all 249 pictures taken. I’m sure we could have bartered a bit with the photographer, but we weren’t too concerned. Michael was our photographer and he was excellent. He was very nice, had good photo ideas and was very prompt about getting our pictures to us (12noon the next day!).

Dinner/Reception
We decided to have our dinner at the Steakhouse a la carte restaurant. We originally wanted the Palace a la carte, but were given the run around as to why it was not possible. We didn’t choose the Mediterranean because the reviews were horrible. (Note: Some family decided to try on a different night and disliked the food a lot.) The Steakhouse was a good choice. The food was good and the orange crepe dessert was amazing. I had read in past reviews how Magnolia provided a wedding cake even if the package didn’t include it, but we weren’t one of the lucky ones. Luckily, my mom had brought down white marshmallow cupcakes that resembled snowballs and stacked them on a glass cake dish. Not that it mattered because everyone was full anyhow. The restaurant had placed our table at the back of the restaurant and there was a small divider acting as a privacy shield (and so we wouldn’t disrupt other patrons!).

Having a full-blown reception with all of the songs we love wasn’t an option. We also weren’t interested in going to the disco to have them play our CD. Instead, I surprised my husband by having some family members sneak out towards the end of dinner to set up an intimate location with tealight candles in white bags. The location was picked out the day before. We decided on the little “hut” that’s used for massages during the day. The family members removed the massage tables, set up the candles and had a laptop and speakers keyed to “our” song. We played our song and a couple of more (You know, The Chicken Dance and all those other common “wedding” songs). We packed up, caught a bit of the entertainment, and walked over to the disco and danced until the wee hours of the morning.

Overall
I was pleased with the way our wedding day turned out, but we had also done the majority of the work. I feel the Riu Complex should revamp the wedding packages they offer to compete with the other surrounding resorts. I feel they could choose better wedding sites and/or decorate them a bit nicer. I also feel they can greatly improve the wedding packages they offer. In comparing the packages with other Punta Cana resorts, I feel the Riu is sub-par. And this, by no means, reflects the hard work and dedication of the Riu’s wedding coordinator, Magnolia. She was wonderful. I guess it’s just a bit disappointing to feel like any other guest in the hotel when we have just gotten married and brought in a lot of business (family members and friends). I was expecting a bit more then just a warm plate of sliced fruit placed beside our TV. I wasn’t expecting the resort to roll out the red carpet, but they should be looking into improving what they offer in regards to wedding packages because they definitely have the potential.

In closing, this isn’t a terrible resort. The resort is wonderful. I don’t think anything could have ruined our wedding day. It’s when I read other brides’ reviews and see their pictures do I realize the need for improvement. Just a little!

Recommendations
* Watch what you leave out in your room. My mom left the glass cake dish on top of the fridge and the maid took it. This happened with a few wedding items (vows written on a piece of paper, etc.).
* Bring a lot of sunblock. You’ll have to keep reapplying it too. I wore a strapless dress so it was important not to show ANY strap lines from my bathingsuit! I went tanning beforehand (I know, not wise) and therefore developed a good base. That way I didn’t need to sit in the sun and worry about getting brown enough to look good in a white dress! Tanning, for me personally, decreases my chances of getting burned too. You definitely don’t want to look red in your pictures either.
* We took the dreaded SkyService plane to Punta Cana. I was able to take my dress on board. It was counted as my carry-on luggage. It had to be stored in the overhead compartments. I was told to board the plane on the early call to ensure I had enough space in the bins so my dress wouldn’t get squished. When I got to the resort, I hung my dress in the closet and the humidity cleared my dress of any wrinkles.
* Be sure to talk to your wedding coordinator about every detail. I had emailed Magnolia quite often leading up to our trip, but failed to mention certain requests when I finally met her. An example: vows. I had forgotten to mention (again) that we both wanted to say something during the ceremony, therefore we never got the chance too. By the time we realized, we were being pronounced husband and wife and the opportunity passed. It’s best to talk to the coorindianor about the tiny details before your wedding day because the day of you’re focused on other things!
* Our photographer, as great as he was, never came to my room to take shots of me getting ready. I regret not mentioning it beforehand, but it wasn’t something I even considered. So, if you want those pictures be sure to request it! I printed off a bunch of unique poses I got from the internet and brought them with me for the photographer to use. We didn’t use many of the poses, but I was fortunate that he had ideas of his own. I feel showing him my researched pictures gave him an idea as to what we were wishing for in our photos. Just remember to be vocal if it’s important to you to have certain poses taken.
*We originally decided on a 5pm wedding, but were able to change the time of day the morning of the wedding. We opted for 4pm, however the ceremony didn’t begin until the 4:30pm due to the judge being a bit late. I personally suggest a wedding no later then 4pm. You may have the hot weather to contend with, but the sun goes down fairly quickly and you’ll miss those amazing pictures with the sun. We were fortunate to get some sun shots before it began to set (4:45pm). It is still light out after that time, but the sun is definitely not it’s brightest.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or would like to see pictures. I would love to help. I’ve been in your shoes so I know the anxiety you’re going through! Good luck in finding your perfect destination wedding location!

nicolekarma@gmail.com
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ParadisusElena and Abby & Carl from Bethlehem, PA
January 2005

About us:
Abby (husband Carl): Married January 17th 2005 in the Paradisus Punta Cana
From: Bethlehem, PA
Age: 24 & 29 at time of travel
Hotel: Paradisus Resort, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
Type of people we are: moderately athletic, drinkers, I am well-traveled, though my husband hates leaving home - I have stayed in everything from 1 to 6 star resorts and enjoyed cruises in the Caribbean, US, and Canada from Montreal to Cozumel, the UK including Wales, Europe, and the French Riviera, Nimes and just about everywhere in between.

The resort for the bride and groom & guests:

The Paradisus is a lovely place with helpful staff in a well-landscaped setting. The first thing I noticed upon arrival are the ponds with greenery - a little unusual in the over-developed areas of newer resorts in the Caribbean. We arrived on Thursday (arrival 48 hours prior to the wedding ceremony is required in the Dominican Republic). Some of our 17 guests arrived Wednesday, while others arrived Friday. A sign at the check-in counter welcomed the guests for our wedding. We did wait for about 30 minutes for our room, but our guests who had arrived the previous day left a message for us in the lobby with their room number (it is not provided by the front desk as a security measure - which I do prefer). The front desk personnel contacted them and we enjoyed sipping drinks in the lobby while waiting for our room to be ready.

Our wedding planner was extremely kind - she welcomed us upon our arrival Thursday, and it was very clear that we were the only marriage that weekend. This is a nice contrast to some marriage machine resorts where there are multiple brides on the same day!

The room we received was very nice - although I believe there was some miscommunication on the part of the hotel management - the champagne and rose petals plus additional decorations that were supposed to be in our room upon arrival were actually in my husband's aunt & uncle's room, as they checked in the day before us. No loss though - there was no time to spend in our room with guests to entertain!

We did wait for a short period of time in the evening as the waitstaff prepared large enough tables to seat 19 people - but there was no grumbling among the staff - each offered their congratulations to us before and after the wedding day. We did not wait at all during breakfast or lunch for a larger table, and we usually had 10+ people eating together.

We picked out our ceremony location and wedding specifics Friday morning - I choose pink roses for my bouquet and husband's boutonnière, and received exactly what I asked for. Maria, the organizer, was just that - organized and succinct in her communication. She spoke wonderful English and made me, as a bride, feel very comfortable. She went above and beyond in all aspects - she even provided photographs of the typical decorations and we were able to modify them to our liking. I picked an unusual ceremony location off the lobby - I didn't like the tent on the grass (the statues are a little odd) and I'm not a beach wedding type of person. There was no problem at all with this, and the decorations were precisely as I requested.

Maria contacted my husband and I when the horse-drawn carriage would come pick up each of us -- first, it picks up the groom and delivers him to the wedding site, then turns around and picks up the bride. My husband prepared in his parents' room and Maria kept track of where each of us was and was an excellent communicator. My husband and guests enjoyed drinks provided by the bartender at our own mini-bar by the ceremony site while they waited for me.

The photographer arrived with the horse and carriage, and took a few pictures before I got into the carriage. The carriage was well kept - about the same quality as those in NYC central park - with an attendant and a driver. The horse was lean but in good health. The attendant was very kind in helping me up into the carriage, and walked with the horse back to the ceremony site. The photographer walked along side. The truth about a wedding ceremony while everyone is on vacation - you feel a little overdressed, but appropriately so. At least 30 people waived at me and took my picture while on the way to the ceremony. When I arrived to the location, my dad helped me out of the carriage and the band started playing "Here comes the Bride." I'm not a huge fan of the song (something I forgot to mention to Maria) but I whispered to my brother who was taking photos and they immediately started playing Canon in D - one of my favorite classical tunes! It was the most beautiful moments of my life. As we had to walk through the lobby I passed several other travelers who were enjoying afternoon cocktails and they all applauded as I walked to the ceremony site.

The ceremony went smoothly - the judge was a woman (yeah!) who was wearing a stylish silk suit (she was wonderful - I wished I'd have my wits about me enough to thank her after the ceremony!) and they provided us with a script the day before in English for whomever we would like to read the ceremony in our language. We asked my Mom to read the vows - so it was as if she married us. As soon as we kissed, the band started playing again - an upbeat, Caribbean style music. We enjoyed champagne poured by the bartender right there, and our wedding cake was great - a slightly coconut favored cake - it was sooooo good! I still wish to this day that I had the sense enough to take it with us or have a full piece instead of one bite. The photographer took great pictures of the ceremony and of us signing the documentation. He took photos of our families, of the whole group, of us in the gardens, of us in the carriage, and anything else we asked. My only regret was not doing the ceremony until 6 - being January we had a limited amount of time before the light was lost. My recommendation is to plan the ceremony at 4 - if it is delayed for some reason (the resort cannot control the arrival of the judge, for example) you'll still have plenty of light. Maria advised of this and I was foolish enough to insist on 6 so that we could have dinner immediately after - then I wanted more time before going to dinner. You'll want to enjoy cocktails and cake before heading off to your meal! Also - it had rained that morning (our ceremony was almost moved into the lobby due to rain) and the carriage was a little muddy. The second time I got in (for our pictures) I got some mud on my dress and was a little upset, but it doesn't show in any of our pictures, and once we bustled the dress it couldn't be seen at all.

We chose a predetermined menu for our reception dinner and a few other nights (which was difficult - some of our party wouldn't eat seafood, others were vegetarians) - although I'm sure it made serving nearly 20 people at once a lot easier - and we received our meals at nearly the same time. We had dinner at El Marino Seafood Restaurant the night of the wedding because I loved the location - right on the beach. The chairs and table were covered in white linen, and the area was in a quiet corner, roped off from the other guests, creating a private setting. Usually one can see the ocean from the restaurant, but it was an unusually breezy night, so the staff lowered the flaps on the tent so that we wouldn't be blown about. We brought candles and decorations/gifts for our guests and the table was decorated with these and rose petals upon our arrival - a very nice touch. We also brought a small cd player with speakers and listed to jazz music, the crashing of the waves, and danced between courses. The menu was printed on beautiful paper and I have added it to my wedding book. It was one of the most beautiful weddings I've ever seen - in person or in a Bridal Magazine.

The staff was extremely accommodating to the requests from some of our guests for vegetarian and meat entrees -- communicated in Spanish. Luckily my father-in-law is fluent in Spanish, making it much easier/faster to get things done, but usually the staff speaks enough English to communicate the necessities. We did tip the restaurant manager $20 US upon our arrival, although I believe the service would have been good nonetheless. There was also plenty of champagne and wine for us, and we had a four course meal - including coconut flan for dessert.

Some of our guests retired immediately after dinner, while others stayed up dancing with us all night. We first went to casino night at the Hibiscus lobby because there was a live band. They stopped in the middle of their song when we arrived and played a few bars of "Here comes the Bride." The entire audience (at least 150 people) stopped, turned, and applauded us as we arrived. When the band stopped playing around 10, we moved onto the all night party at the discotheque off the lobby. Again, upon our arrival at the lobby, everyone applauded and cheered. The dj at the discotheque played our song (we brought along a cd) and we had the dance floor to ourselves. By 12 I was beat so we headed back to our room and let everyone to party.

Included in our wedding package was a champagne breakfast in bed. I wish I hadn't taken it - by 9 I wanted to be on my morning walk on the beach, and instead I was wasting daylight in the room! It arrived slightly late (we called Maria to ask about it and it was there 15 minutes later) but was very romantic - it was a very nice breakfast in bed. Don't wait around for it unless you plan on sleeping in - it's the same type of food as available at the restaurant, and I wanted to sit with my family before they left.

We received our photos and negatives the Tuesday after the wedding. They are beautiful. I got additional prints from the negatives once we arrived in the states, and the Photoshop admired the excellent photography. I was able to enlarge them to 30"x38" and maintain great clarity. They are better than most wedding photographs I have seen -- at a much lower price and a much better attitude than any photographer I have ever worked with in the United States at my sisters', dad's, cousin's, and friends' weddings. Additionally, one would never receive wedding prints within 3 days of the ceremony here. My only mistake - I packed the negatives so that they went through security (and the electronic scanning machines) on our way back. This detetoriated the quality of the film. I immediately had all prints scanned and put onto CD (the cost is worth being able to email them to friends and family and requesting prints online), but I wish I had carried them on the flight with me. Thank goodness for the photographer - most of the photos taken by my family did not turn out nearly as well.

On to the hotel -

Our opinion on the resort is very similar to the other reviews, so I will keep this as brief as possible in comparison to my above comments.

As stated, our room was very nice and well-kept. The housing staff, although they spoke no English, were extremely polite. Altough we brought back more than enough champagne to our room to keep me happy for the week - that was pretty much all I drank - our microfridge was never stocked with beer or cocktails (my husband likes his rum and cokes)- only sodas and water. We ususally tipped, but on the mornings we forgot I noticed no difference in the quality of service. It would have been nice to have beer in the microfridge. The bathrooms were nice - marble floors with a closet and full length mirror and enough space to hang a full wedding gown with chapel length train.

The beach here was the most beautiful I have ever seen - even nicer than Cozumel, Grand Caymen, the Florida Panhandle, Pensacola FL, the French Riveria, the Western French Riveria (near Nimes - actually much nicer than the riveria). If you would like to have a wedding on the beach, this is the place to be.

The meals, although more European-style, were simple and good with a 4* quality and variety. I did not like the Japanese style restaurant (I guess I'm spoiled with ultra fresh fish and experience of sushi/sashimi and hibachi chefs from NYC) but the other restaurants were very good. The steak house was excellent - some of the best lamb chops I have ever had in my life, although the French restaurant was not as good as one would assume. I do suggest sticking with what you like and not forcing yourself to see absolutely everything - it was not possible, even during our 11 day stay. The room service was good - the pizza was great after a long night of drinking, and room service delivered wine if requested. The drinks were not super strong - try asking for "Rum Blanco" -white rum - when ordering a rum drinks. The dark rum was far too spicy compared to Bacardi. White Russians were a big hit in our group - the parmalat milk helped ease stomachs after overindulgence at lunch and dinner.

For those travelers who want an absolutely top-notch travel experience, this is close to it, but as always, you get what you pay for! We paid $2350 per person including airfare from Philadelphia for a 10 night, 11 day stay, and additional for wedding fees. This was much more reasonable (one of the purposes of selecting this resort) than the true 5* resorts, which are approximately $5000 per person for the same stay. For the complainers out there, I suggest being realistic and patient, as is necessary in any country where you do not speak the native language. A smile and a dollar or two goes a long way.
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  Grand Paradise Bavaro   Mark and Kassie ~ Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
February 2008

A group of 18 of us in total visited Grand Paradise Bavaro from January 24-31, 2008 as my wedding party. 16 left from Toronto and 2 from Edmonton. I am happy to speak for them all when we say we had a blast! This is an excellent, high-class resort that deserves every one of its four stars and we recommend it to anyone looking for a relaxing, worry-free getaway.

When we first arrived at the resort, it was around 11:45 PM, so the next morning we went and met Glenny, our wedding coordinator. A sweeter (and cuter) woman never walked the Earth – she was soo helpful! If people had a problem with their room or a question about anything we always went to her and she always expedited the process. She was fantastic!

She let us choose our location, and we decided on a cement pad by the seafood restaurant. Sounds grim, I know, but there were palm trees, plant arches and flowers all around, and there was an ocean view in the background, it was great. Thank God we didn't choose the beach because the wind would've blown us away.

We did the wedding on Tuesday, the 29th, and to our surprise, the judge showed up on time – 4:30 PM. The wind was so strong we had trouble hearing him do the ceremony, but we got the gist of it, lol. No rain, thankfully. The judge's legal fees were $550 and the wedding package was $750, all USD.

One irritating part about the wedding was the photographer. We had some of our party taking pictures and he would always push them out of the way, as if he ruled the Earth, and he took over 200 pictures even though I intended on buying no more than 20 or 25. His assistant claimed he was the best photographer in the Dominican Republic, but I think my sister-in-law could've done a lot of better photos.

Anyway, I haggled like crazy over the price, and we wound up getting a huge discount. I knew they had to sell the photos to make any money at all, and knew they would compromise. The assistant really made me mad when he insisted that we had already agreed to purchase 35 photos for $350 – yeah right! I stormed off, came back in a few hours and found him to be more reasonable. We wound up buying 85 pictures for $450, about $5.30 a picture. Got 12 more free with the wedding package, so 97 altogether. We got all of the photos burned to a CD; didn't get any prints as their quality isn't as good as Canada's. Don't ever pay full price for the photos. I paid $5.30 a picture (on CD) and you should not pay more than that!

At our choice, we held the reception for the 18 of us at the seafood restaurant. Glenny was soo nice because we had said all along that we wanted the Asian restaurant, but when we realized the seafood one was right by the beach and right by where our wedding ceremony was to take place, we changed our minds. No problem at all! They even set up a special set of tables for us outside the restaurant and we got free champagne!

As part of the package, we were to get a plate of fruit and bottle of champagne in our room the night of the wedding. We didn't wind up getting that until the next day's afternoon, and only because I repeatedly requested it. We were also to get breakfast in bed the morning after, but they didn't show up until nearly 10:30 – we got bored and went for breakfast at the buffet at 9. As a result, most of the fruit went bad.

None of this bothered us really; nothing of any consequence went wrong. It was a wondrous wedding, we have no regrets about doing it down there and everyone in our party was thanking us for doing the wedding in the DR. Everyone gets a vacation out of it, why not eh? Also I'm pretty sure it was cheaper for us than doing it in Canada. Factoring in all of our costs – flight, hotel, wedding package, legal fees, translation etc. – it cost us two about $4500 US, and we got the free reception out of it. At their request, I brought rice flour down for them to make me a cake I could eat, because with my celiac disease I cannot have wheat flour. Funny thing is I took an unmarked, clear, plastic bag of white powder right through security in Toronto, in my carry-on, and they didn't say a thing. They didn't have rice flour down there, so I figured I'd try to take it and the worst they would do is confiscate it. No issue at all! They made a great wedding cake, an excellent reception dinner and a dream wedding to remember forever.

I highly recommend this resort for your dream wedding! We have absolutely no regrets! A great vacation and a highly recommended resort! Ignore the bad reviews, it is incredible and definitely a paradise!
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Grand Paradise Bavaro from Canada
March 2007

We recently got married (Feb 28,2007) at the Grand Paradise Bavero in the Dominican Republic and would like to tell you a little about it. The wedding co-ordinater was pretty good. I emailed the co-ordinater before we went to find out how to pay for the wedding and I was told visa was accepted but what he didn't tell us was that the wedding photographer was to be paid in US cash, which we did not bring that much with us. We assumed that the photographer could be paid the same as the hotel with our visa, we had to get a cash advance to pay for the pictures. The co-ordinater claimed that he was not aware of this policy but being the wedding cor-ordinater he should be aware of everything to do with the wedding as that is his job isn't it? We ended up getting a big discount on the pictures because of this. The photographer's pictures were ok, I felt he rushed to do his job, and in alot of the pictures we are not always positioned very well and they look unprofessional. We were hard pressed to pick 37 pictures(min pkg) as they were not very impressive and we could of gotten the same pictures from our friends camera's as they were the same. We had our wedding near the beach, close to the steak house on the patio, it was a beautiful location. We were married at 1:00 pm and standing on that patio was very bright and the wedding party was squinting in all the pictures and I was holding my hand over my eyes to cut the glare(as shown in my pictures)my eyes were watering and my mascara was running(waterproof), I would suggest that they put a canopy of some sort above the bride and groom so that there something to stop the sun being in your eyes, I might suggest a gazeebo or a white tent.
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  Jellyfish Restaurant   Claire

June 2009

We got married at the Jellyfish Restaurant in April. We did everything there the wedding ceremony and the reception. We had 43 people from New York who flew in for the wedding. I was very confident that Mayte would be able to handle everything so I had no stress at all on the day of the wedding (prior to my arrival at the restaurant). We had met with Mayte the Wednesday before to pay in full the rest of our invoice. I do NOT RECOMMEND this at all.

The Good:
The food was excellent and the bottom portion of the restaurant was decorated beautifully. The waiter, waitress and bartender were very nice. We had a great time thanks to our guests and making the most of everything. That’s it, I would never in a million years recommend to have your wedding here.

We upgraded EVERYTHING, food, alcohol and every other service that you could imagine. We also bought 6 bottles of grey goose and top shelf liquor since they only had absolute. We spent $10,000.00 here on 43 people to make it really fabulous. I was certain that everything would go smoothly having met Mayte and eating here the August prior since we flew down to check out the facilities before booking.

Here is a rundown of what went wrong:
When my husband arrived the restaurant was not set up… It was clear that they had served lunch that day and were running way behind. I paid $1,000.00 to reserve the restaurant for the wedding, they should have had it set up before we arrived at 5:00pm with all of our guests. There were people drinking and making out in front of the ceremony (again still part of the lunch crowd). Mayte should have had the restaurant set up and any outsiders gone at that point. I arrived at 5:30 and waited in the parking lot with my father and a dog for 20 minutes so they could set up. My husband was FRANTICALLY trying to get the boutonnieres on the kids, have the tables set up and get some kind of order. We hired a musical trio who did not show up, the minister did not show up and the DJ did not show up. After everyone was seated I headed into the restaurant before the ceremony and Mayte said the trio was in a car accident. Fine but she had really crazy circus music playing. Finally she changed the music and I headed down the aisle for my wedding ceremony. The minister who filled in was a NIGHTMARE. Really I was so mortified I had to laugh the entire time or I would have cried. It was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life - really. It was such a disaster that I had to have a stiff drink immediately after because my nerves were shot. After our ridiculous vows we headed back into the restaurant to give the DJ the song list. Well we then found out that we had no DJ. Thankfully I made 4 hours worth of music on my ipod. So now we have no MC to announce us in or for the first dances.

Mayte was absolutely useless, she actually left in the middle of the wedding to go home and shower because the restaurant was having another party there that night at 1:00am. Honestly things happen, I am aware of that but when the entire s**t was hitting the fan Mayte basically quit and left my husband and I to fend for ourselves. If she had at least made an effort to do something, ANYTHING I would have not been so mad!

Other things that went wrong were that the restaurant let a random lady in to use the bathroom in the middle of my reception and she had diahria ALL over the bathroom, everywhere floors and walls. Then she left her disgusting underwear in the sink. At one point both bathrooms would not flush. The upstairs of the restauranrt was never cleaned from lunch so when guests went up it was filthy with plates still up there. Again my husband and I were on our own because Mayte left…

My guests never received coffee with the awful tasting wedding cake. Mayte and the owner offered my husband 300.00 for the troubles at the end of the night. I was not only insulted but FURIOUS and told Mayte that we would be back the next day to discuss. When we arrived the next day Mayte had a slew of excuses, cried and went on and on about how hard the day was for her. Guess what it was my wedding, I cried myself to sleep that night from disappointment and embarrassment and guess what, this is her job! Since we had paid in full it was a MAJOR battle to get any money back from them. We paid $10,000.00 for a wedding and received a dinner with my ipod playing music. In the end we got back $1,500.00 after an ugly battle by phone with the owner.

Girls maybe this was just one case of a wedding going wrong there but I had to let you all know about my HORRIBLE experience. I would think long and hard before having your wedding here. I am willing to answer any questions that you may have.

I also plan to post reviews on the Melia, La Barcaza Yacht (rehearsal dinner on here) and my photographer that we hired from Santo Domingo. All of these reviews are fabulous so I will keep you all posted.


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Riu MerengueLaura & Daniel
June 2005

Got back on Monday June 6 from a wonderful week at the Riu Merengue in Puerto Plata .

The wedding co-ordinator Nerys Reyes met us the day after we arrived and showed us the flowers we could choose and told us where the groom and best man had to meet her {in the main lobby} but told us the Judge was usually late, or as they prefer to call it, 'on Dominican time'. We ordered the extra's we wanted [well worth the money] and then went back to the pool. Just as well as it was very hot all week. Definately in the high 90's with the humidity.

Extras: Video $300 US {turned out excellant and set to the music we wanted as we gave them a CD with a few of our songs on it}

3 Guitarist :$100 US {honestly, they didnt play for long, but it gave the proceedings a little 'flavour'!}

Bridesmaids Bouquets: 2=$18 US

Extra wrist corsages for the mums and grandmothers: approx $5-$6 US each

The day of the wedding, {11am} the groom and best man and guests were taken from the lobby to the gazebo which was decked out in lots of flowers and the table and chairs for the bride and groom had long cloths covering them , it all looked really beautiful. At 11.15 the Judge arrived and Nerys came to get me and the bridesmaids. She brought the bouquets with her and they were exactly as the photos in her book . I loved them. We walked to the gazebo and just the bridesmaids appeared in view of the guests the guitarists started playing "Here Comes the Bride". The Judge spoke softly as Nerys translated into Eglish. It was over very qickly and we had asked one of our witnesses {family friends} to speak the words of the 'Sand Ceremony' rather than the two of us say vows to each other.

The Sand Ceremony is really an alternative to the lighting of the Unity candle. We each had a glass of sand and at a certain moment of the ceremony we each poured our glasses into one big glass, symbolizing two individuals becoming one. Ahhh!!!!!!

Drinks were passed around to the guests after the ceremony and two bottles of champagne were popped and poured for the wedding party. The photographer took lots of photos [you only get 24 4x6 of the ceremony only in your package]We had the first dance right there on the grass with all our guests watching . The guests all went off back to change and go to the pools whilst we went off to the beach to have more photos taken and the videographer did this thing too.

The Merengue gazebo is nicer I think than the one at the Mambo as that one although more open is part of the bar area and has a more travelled walkway right behind it which is seen by the guests and Bridal couple. The Bachata gazebo although beautiful and set in a lovely location is VERY WINDY and the path around it where you guests would be standing is not paved and rocky and uneven. To get to it you climb a quite a few steps and walk along a pathway with a fence on either side. The Merengue gazebo is set back from the main paths in the resort but is on a pathway going to various rooms, but it also is surround by palms and flowering bushes. Take a look at the photos on the link below and you will see what I mean. Its much more private than the other gazebo's.

The evening dinner reception was beautifully set up. We had asked for white tablecloths instead of the regular blue as it didnt go with the colours chosen for the wedding. There was no problem with them doing this. The waiters also offered to set out the placecards and wedding favours but my mum and future mother in law and my nanny did this . The staff were always asking if they could do anything for us all during our vacation. The Steakhouse menu was excellant. We started with a variety of shrimp, calamari, tempura battered veggies and chicken fingers, then soup, then the main course. I can recommend the Beef fillet! The waiters served white,red and rosa wine all evening, as many glasses as you wanted. Wedding cake was brought out at the end and cut and served as dessert. As we had the later seating {8.30 pm} we stayed for ages and eventually everyone drifted off to the bars between 11 and midnight. A lovely end to a happy day.

The upgraded suite was lovely {room 1106] and there was a huge flower arragement sent by the wedding co-ordinater , Nerys. We had a sitting room attached to the bedroom and it opened up to a balcony overlooking the ocean.

We went jet skiing which we rented from the sports beach. $60US for two for 25 mins. We had so much fun we rented them a couple of days. Also went swimming with the dolphins and bought the video to show we did it. Thats a lot of fun and worth spending out the $145US to do it.

Link to photos: http://community.webshots.com/user/bridesmom
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  Bahia Principe Punta Cana  Lisa
February 2009

I was married at the Gran Bahia Principe Punta Cana/Bavaro on Tuesday 20th January 2009. I am from the UK and travelled with First Choice. We stayed at the resort from 8th - 22nd January - and was married only a couple of days before coming home. We had a party of 57 people with us and everyone one of them loved this resort and didnt have any complaints whatsoever!!

On check-in the hotel upgraded our wristbands - we were given the silver VIP wristbands which meant we could use any facilities/restaurants around the resort, we got free internet access, fruit-bowl, champagne, slippers and robes in the room and lots of other little extras.

The resort is beautiful - from the first day we arrived we knew we had made a good choice of hotel. First thing we did on arrival was go find the Wedding Gazebo and we was like 'Wow this is gorgeous'. Later that day we received a letter in our room from Gildania - our wedding co-ordinator - telling us the day and time of our meeting with her. Our meeting wasnt scheduled for another week (18th January) so we went along to her office and introduced ourselves and confirmed our wedding date of 20th January - which I had arranged over email a few months previous. Apart from setting a date I had no other email correspondence with them about the wedding as I was trying to take the laid back approach!!

After this I spent the next week chilling out and working on my sun-tan.

Sunday 18th January - Pre-wedding Meeting

We met with Gildania - and the meeting lasted just over an hour!! What a stress-free way to organise a wedding!! She told us exactly what would happen on the day - she had photos of different layouts of the gazeebo and how it would be set up for such a large wedding group. She showed us where we would all stand etc etc - It was a step by step run-though of the wedding.

Hair - she offered us priority hair and make-up appointments for the morning of the wedding but we had arranged to do our own!

Flowers - we chose the bouquets and buttonholes - she has lots of examples on her computer which you chose from - you can have them in different colours if you wish. The bride and groom flowers were part of our wedding package but we paid extra for our wedding party - the bridesmaids were US$20 each and the buttonholes were US$10 each.

Champagne - we wanted champagne at the gazeebo and this was US$15 per bottle.

We also requested to have a sand ceremoney (which we brought our own vases and sand with us) and for a family member to read a poem and this was no problem whatsoever.

We talked about photos and having the wedding recorded on dvd.

For the dinner/reception we had arranged to take our guests to a private restaurant off the resort called the Jellyfish Restaurant (which I would strongly recommend - there is a huge thread about this restaurant in the chat forum). We told Gildania in the meeting and she was absolutely fine and said we would love it there. I was soo pleased as I thought they may get funny when they heard we were leaving the resort - but not at all. She really couldnt do enough to help us.

Tuesday 20th January - Wedding Day

Our wedding was at 1pm. The flowers arrived at our room about 12.50pm (and they were beautiful - pink, yellow and orange roses) and the car to collect us came about 2 mins later. The car dropped us off at the bus-stop before the gazeebo so that everyone didnt see us hobble off it. As we started walking down the isle the musical trio followed us and played Ave Maria. The whole ceremony was perfect - excatly as planned. The ceremony, sand ceremony and readings made the whole thing last about 20 mins which was great. Immediately after every guest was given a glass of champagne and we made a toast.

We then had our photos taken in the gardens next to the gazeebo - Jorge was our phototgrapher. We had drawn up a list before the wedding of what group shots we wanted and our groomsmen organised everyone so that the photos were done as quickly as possible - I would recommend doing a list as Jorge is really good at his job but he doesnt know what group shots you do/dont want. After that all the guests went up to the lobby bar as they was baking hot and me and my new husband went down to the beach with the Jorge and the video man for a few snaps down there.

Before the wedding I was really nervous about having my photos taken on the beach and all the holiday makers standing around watching me as I dont like being centre of attention - but I thought theres no way I can get married in the Carribean and not have my photos taken on the beach so I just went with it - and I have to say it was actually really nice!! Everyone stood up and clapped us as we walked onto the beach and called out 'congratulations'. It was sooo lovely. They did stand and watch while we had our photos taken but they stood well back and certainly didnt bother us.

After that it was back up to the lobby bar for a few drinks and at 4.30pm we were picked up by coaches to be taken to the Jellyfish restaurant for the rest of the evening! We kept it a surpise from our guests, they were only told at the ceremony that they were leaving the resort and so none of them had a clue where we were going.

The Jellyfish restaurant is absolutely amazing - we had the whole restaurant to ourselves, cocktail hour on arrival, sit down dinner, cake, fire throwers on the beach then a disco for the rest of the evening - the dance floor was on the balcony/veranda and so we all danced under the stars until gone midnight. The place is magical and I really cant recommend it enough!!

Wednesday 21st January - the day after

We had a message on our phone that Jorge would meet us in reception at 2pm to view all the photos. I didnt expect the photos to be that good to be honest - but oh my god they were brilliant - so colouful and vibrant. He had taken about 250 photos. There are all different packages you can choose from but we opted for 100 photos printed and on disc for $400. He said the photos and dvd would be ready for collect that night at the photo shop.... and they were.

The dvd was $320 and 30 minutes long. Again it is brilliant - professionally edited and they put songs over it. Im so glad we got this.

I was so anxious before my wedding and how it will turn out and I really didnt have to worry!! Everyone involved was wonderful and it really was the fairtytale wedding I had hoped for. All of our guests said it was the best wedding they had ever been to.

Im more than happy for genuine brides to contact me through the forum and my name on there is LittleL.

Good luck with your planning......
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  Bahia Principe Punta Cana  C & J ~ Toronto
December 2008

We have chosen the Gran Bahia Principe for our destination wedding. I am sorry to hear about the bad experiences of those who wrote the last couple of wedding reviews at the resort. In contrast to these, we have had an amazing experience and have nothing but positive things to say about their wedding coordinators and assistants, wedding packages, and the resort itself. Please let me preface my review by saying that no, i am not some laidback, anything goes bride (do these even exist??). and i am not going to lie and say it was completely stress-free either since i put a lot of work in the pre-wedding phase.

Let me start with our arrival - we arrived on Nov. 14th around lunch time. Because we are getting married, they upgraded us from the Goden section to the Ambar section and it was fantastic! We were checked in on the bus on the way to the resort so no need to line up when we get there! Our room was very clean, lots of towel origami by the maid, our fruit basket was waiting for us - everything was all set up!

Our wedding coordinator was Esperanza. We met with her around 3pm on Nov. 14th (Friday) and we were a bit nervous because our wedding was scheduled for 3:30pm the next day. But, we really had nothing to worry about! We had a short meeting (approx 20-30 mins) with her and her assistant Patricia, and all it entailed was confirming everything we requested. I was actually impressed because all of our pre-wedding emails about restaurant, menus, flowers, location in short everything, prep documents for the actual ceremony and the wording of the ceremony were already all printed out and organized into our folder. Esperanza spoke English and understood everything perfectly. I (the bride) am a super-organized person so I sent them a document through email outlining how the entire ceremony will go because I was sure there would be no practice before the actual day. It was a 20-point outline of who will walk when, who will talk when, what they are going to say, when the music will ! play and what music, etc. basically, it's the entire ceremony in paper. Maybe this helped them clarify everything we wanted regardless, Esperanza and Patricia were right on the ball with everything and we truly appreciate their work.

We brought ribbons and cake toppers and i emailed them a picture of these before hand as well so all they did really was make sure they understood what we wanted the cake to look like. We chose half vanilla and half chocolate go with either or combo of these since it's safer and I heard tastes better than the other ones (based on some of our guests who also attended another wedding the same week as us). in terms of flowers, we picked them ahead via email and during the meeting I changed the colour of my bouquet to all-white, not like the picture and it turned out more stunning than what I expected. My bridesmaids got pink flowers and they were truly beautiful. Our hair appointments were scheduled by Esperanza during our meeting and no problems there. The time of the wedding we requested 4pm, so 3.30pm was close enough. We brought table decorations and I had a powerpoint drawing of where each decoration would go and what candles to use for what. there were24 of ! us and we requested 1 long table, and I prepared a seating chart. Each of our guests has a specific wedding favour and we basically attached their name cards to the wedding favour so they know where to sit. Esperanza reiterated everything I told her about it and she liked my drawing so there was no confusion about how the table was suppose to be.

On the actual day, hair appointment went without a glitch they don't speak English so bring a picture or they have pictures there that are also good so if you show them what you want, they'll be able to copy it no problem. The staff at the salon was also very accommodating they let us stay for as long as we want since we decided to do our make up there ourselves because the lighting in the rooms aren't the brightest. We requested flowers for our hair and these were free since all they did was go out into the garden directly outside the salon and pick flowers there. they picked a variety and let us pick which ones we wanted. If you want, you can also just pick some of the white flowers that are all over the resort since some of our female guests did this to put flowers on their hair too! They are beautiful and there's a TON of them so the staff didn't mind when we picked them to put in our hair.

The flowers came to our room around 2pm and they were so fresh and beautiful! They really deserve praise for that. Patricia delivered it to our room where the girls were getting ready and notified us that she will first pick up the groom/bestman in their room at 3.15 and then drop them off at the wedding gazebo, then do a second trip for myself and the bridesmaids after that. Well, the only glitch was they were a bit late they picked up the guys at 3.30 and by the time we girls got to the gazebo it was just before 4pm so the ceremony actually started at 4pm (our original request). Our guests waited for half an hour at the gazebo for us but no one really minded since these gave them the opportunity to take lots of pics of the venue and even pics with the musical trio before we even arrived.

There is a 'bus stop' for the resort trolley near the gazebo and this is where me and girls got dropped off. Esperanza was waiting there for us to make sure that we were stay hidden before the ceremony begins and she already got my parents with her since I planned to walk down the aisle with both of them. Esperanza had my ceremony outline in hand and followed it to the tee! The trio was amazing the music was sweet and romantic as I walked down the aisle. The photographer was great too! He is truly an expert and I have to say we were impressed with the pictures. The ceremony itself the judge basically spoke in Spanish and after a paragraph or two, Esperanza would read the ceremony wording I gave her I based it on the original she sent me. I don't agree with some of the stuff that was originally there, but as long as you keep the legal stuff in, they don't really mind if you add or make changes to it. Trust me, I made drastic changes and they read it! we added a part to mention a close friend who recently passed away, we added 2 readings by our friends, and own vows in addition to the normal 'I do's''. We couldn't be happier with how the ceremony turned out! Future brides out there, perhaps it helps to make a 20-point outline as I did! But I swear our ceremony went as planned. We had champagne right after the ceremony at the gazebo, we signed our wedding docs there too with the judge and took lots of pictures at the gazebo. When we were walking out of the gazebo. Esperanza has arranged for all our guests to line our path and throw white petals as we walked by. It made for some truly amazing photos! After that, we headed to the beach to take some pics there. It was a little too windy so thank god my hair is up and away from my face! But the wind created rolling clouds which were spectacular in the pictures!

After all the picture-taking, we had about an hour and a half before the reception at the Garden Grill. I would highly recommend this to everyone since they serve the most delicious food, even better than the Don Pablo Gourmet Restaurant exclusive to Ambar guests (DP is their fanciest restaurant). The garden grill has a separate section for parties and we had the entire section to us one served as waiting area where we stayed for about 15 minutes while waiting for more people to come (some of them were already getting used to Dominican time!). the waiters went around with juice and wine while we were here. After that, we were brought into the main section. It was private and separate from main dining room, which is perfect. The one long table was nicely decorated with the stuff we brought and lots of nice flowers that they added. They lit the candles soon after we arrived but before we were seated it was perfect! They got everyones seating place right, and everyone had their favours on the table. We got Bubba mugs for the guys so they can use it throughout their stay at the resort (we noticed a LOT of Canadians had bubba mugs!) and we got the girls freshwater pearl necklaces in little organza bags. The waiters even went around to ask the guys if they wanted their mugs filled with beer already (I pre-washed them before we left Canada) and of course most of them did. For dinner, we had chicken Caesar, corn chowder, beef tenderloin steak, and cheesecake for desert for the adults and ice cream for the 2 kids. After cheesecake, we served the wedding cake as well. The staff at the garden grill were great! First, the wine was just flowing, flowing, flowing! Ha! And despite the numerous wine bottles, they keep dressing it up since my aunt got these bottle dresses bride and groom for both the white and red wine. It was funny when the guests noticed it the first time the waiters were coming around with the bottles. Some of the waiters even participated in the wedding games! It was hilarious! They were really very accommodating so we tipped them generously and gave them our wedding cake. It was delicious but the entire meal was sooo good, especially the steak, so not a lot of ppl had room for cake. There was also a speaker set up and a mic for our host. We connected our ipod and played music during dinner, and had a set playlist for dancing, games, etc. because we had the entire section and the table was off to one side, there was a lot of room to move around and act crazy :P also, aside from the wine, the waiters started bringing cocktails out for the girls and more beer for the guys, they were just great! Since my husband is not a beer drinker, he gave his bubba mug to our head server. That plus the tip for everyone made them so grateful, they sent us free t shirts and a bottle of rum the next day from the restaurant staff! They also sent us some of the flowers centerpieces used to decorate the wedding table so our maid placed them around our room.

The next morning we had breakfast served in our room a bottle of champagne. Actually, they did this for two consecutive mornings right at 9am! It was excellent and very satisfying both mornings

All in all, we are truly happy about everything wedding-related, no complaints whatsoever. It's sad that Esperanza no longer works there though. We popped by their office about 10 days after the wedding to say bye and thanks again but she was no longer there; Patricia was still there so atleast we were able to thank her again.

My advice to anyone, whatever resort you choose to have your wedding at, is to outline, literally point by point, exactly what you want for all the details (decorations, table settings, etc) and the ceremony itself. We did this and it went smoothly and no glitches. I also made a separate document that I constantly updated and re-sent via email that has the latest details. Eg, if we needed to add guests or decide to have ice cream for kids instead of cheesecake, the entire document is resent to them with all the latest details. This way, there is no confusion and you are getting exactly what you asked for.

As for the resort review all we can say is wow! The rooms were clean, staff were friendly, food was excellent and the beach of course was fantastic! My mom's bday was also during our wedding week so my aunt arranged for a dinner for my mom's bday at one of the buffet restaurants. And I know some people say that you can't go to other section's buffet and all our guests are all over the place some in Ambar, punta cana side and bavaro side but we had no problems eating all together at the bavaro buffet and they even made a birthday cake for my mom as per my aunts request! Also, they decorated the entire long table for my mom's bday, the staff sang to us, and drinks just kept coming without uis even asking. My mom had an awesome bday too, and we're really happy about that. As for activities, they had shows every night. As other's have said, the Michael Jackson one is fun, I also enjoyed the circus one and the one were they had games for the guests (I think on Saturdays).

Overall, we would definitely come back to this resort and we have no regrets but only great memories about having our wedding there.

Other Comments:
all i have to add is that the staff is truly amazing, please tip them generously. we even tipped the guy who was always mopping and polishing the ambar lobby - i think a lot of people forget them and tip only the maids, bartenders and servers. most maids are moms so bring some pencils and other school supplies for their kids - we got a bunch of stuff at the dollar store and they love it. they also like all sort of knickknacks - eg, the night we arrived, my MOH and bridesmands through me a bachelorette party there and we were all wearing these plastic lit up rings (looks like those ring pops but it lights up) and a few of the waitresses asked for them when we were at the lobby bar. anyways, the staff appreciates anything from canada/us you can give them - even bars of soap, those free makeup things u get from ur clinique purchase, chocolate bars from halloween - they go nuts over them so if you do not want to leave them cash, they will appreciate these as well.
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  Bahia Principe Punta Cana  N and J ~ Saskatoon SK, Canada
September 2008

Destination weddings are wonderful as long as you don't have high expectations of detail and circumstances that occur because of language barriers and the "Dominican Way" which is when they get around to things!! They do not operate like we do...and get away with errors and mis-communication and once you are there and have paid your money it is too late to complain!!

Like all you brides to be I was looking for the "best" location to have our destination wedding. I tried to research this the best I could from other reviews and find a place that was both organized and efficient as I didn't want to be embarrased by family and friends that were paying $2110 each to attend our destination wedding and their week in the sun!! The Gran Bahia in Punta Cana was 5 star and had to most positive reviews. For that, I felt the most confident in having our wedding there.

We were dissapointed in the resort with regards to our wedding. We had booked 19 of our closest friends and family and spend $50 000 CDN on our week. For vacation - this resort was absolutely stunning and offered great food and service.

Problems we encountered:
-we had been planning our wedding via email and phone (6 mths in advance) of which apparently their computors had crashed so much of our pre-planned preparation has just disappeared
-we were over-charged on our wedding deposit
-our hair appointments which we were assured that were booked were not so we needed to re-book them all on our own when we got there...and then it was a rush a few people did not get their's done as they ran out of time (hair-dressers)
-we did not get the location or the menu we had asked for (emails had dissapeared) with regards to our wedding reception.
-we were not given a wedding time until the night before the wedding 7pm and our wedding was scheduled the next day for 2:30pm.
-we were not given clear instruction on the wedding day (no wedding rehearal so we just had to wing it)
-we were told on our wedding package we would receive "breakfast in bed" in morning after.......we waited and it never came.
-we were told the wedding couple would receive 15% discount in all Spa services and they charge it to your room ...when we went to pay the day we were leaving they did not honor that nor would they discuss it....we wasted 1 1/2hrs of our last day their trying to explain what we were promised and the language barrier was tough as well as they were not organized!!
needless to say we had to pay it and suck it up!!
-if you are at all organized and think that the "wedding planner" will take care of everything and this will be stress-free you will be sadly mistaken. the only way you will enjoy this resort for their wedding package is if you are care-free and do not care about last minute details and changes in plans.....i ended up crying on a few occasions because of my dissapointment in the details of the most important day of our lives and the lack of information i was provided!!
-they do 2-4 weddings each day so you are really just a number.

Positive note:
We did have a wonderful week and the resort was clean, good food, and offered lots to do....i would stay here again but would not recommend it for a wedding or wedding guests as it is too expensive and you can get the same vacation for much cheaper.
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  Bahia Principe Punta Cana  Tasha ~ USA
September 2008

We just got back from our vacation and wedding at the Gran Bahia Principe in Punta Cana and we have nothing but dreadful things to say about this resort!

We visited from August 17th to August 24. We are from Florida and had 34 guests travel to our wedding. Pre-Travel: My husband and I traveled to Punta Cana, DR in November 2007 to research some of the resorts and wedding packages. We stayed at the Riu Palace and found it to be a beautiful resort. After staying here we felt sure that a destination wedding would be perfect for us. Unfortunately the resort could not accommodate us for the weekends that we wanted; my biggest regret is that because of this we choose to have our wedding at the Gran Bahia Principe. I also worked with DestinationWeddings.com to assist me with coordinating my Stress-free wedding. I was assigned a dedicated wedding specialist, Amarjit Keshav. Without Amarjit I would have lost my mind during this entire ordeal. Thank you again for everything.

During the 9 months leading up to the event, The Gran Bahia Principe-Punta Cana assigned us 4 different wedding coordinators: Mariana, Jeanette, Rosa, and finally Esperanza. All of the assigned coordinators were very difficult to get in contact with. We tried very hard to stay in contact with them via telephone and email, which was nearly impossible. I was trying to stay as organized as possible and plan as much as I could ahead of time. I would email and call only to get very limited responses from anyone at the resort. When we would finally get in touch with someone we would find out that the previous coordinator was no longer there! I was constantly assured by the “replacement coordinator” that all of my needs would be taken care of. The Gran Bahia Principe-Punta Cana double charged our deposit because of the turnover of staff and would you believe when I got to the resort I dealt with Esperanza’s two assistants Gildania and Rosalinda, both of which were not clear on any of the details of my wedding and were filling in while Esperanza was “away”.

The Resort: The resort was enormous and parts of it are currently under construction! The resort is actually comprised of 4 different sub divisions: Bavaro, Punta Cana, Premier, and Ambar. Each section has their own pool, lobby (reception area), and restaurant. My husband and I were booked in the Ambar section along with 15 other guest from our wedding party, this section is for Adults-Only and supposedly is the upgraded area. This posed a problem as 8 of my guests were booked in in the Punta Cana section and 6 in the Club Premier section. In order to travel to each section of the resort you had to take a trolley. The trolley service was supposed to run every 5 minutes from 6 am to 3am to take you back and forth, but there were times when the trolley would pass right by us or we would wait for 10 minutes or more. On one occasion we forgot our camera in the room, by the time we caught a trolley back to the Ambar section and returned to the front of the Punta Cana lobby it was 35 minutes!

Arrival 8/17: We were advised that being the bride and groom we would receive complimentary rum, a fruit basket, and t-shirts. We did not receive any of this.

Monday 8/18: My Fiancé and I had not heard from the wedding coordinator so we decided to make a trip to the front Punta Cana Lobby (where her office was located), when we got there they told us to come back in 20 minutes. While waiting we decided to make reservation for dinner at the Garden Grill for my Mother’s B-day Saturday night 8/23. The young lady told me she could not make reservations for my family until they all arrived because she needed me to provide her with room numbers for 18 guest. After explaining that I had guest arriving everyday of the week and how difficult it would be for me to try contacting her every time a new guest arrived (particularly since they work odd days) she said she could block the restaurant for 16 people but that I had to come back with the remaining room numbers. Finally the Assistant Wedding Coordinator and the Group Coordinator returned from lunch (no Esperanza in sight), they sat me and my fiancé down just to ask us “didn’t you get the letter we sent?”, our immediate response was “No”. Well, they claimed that they sent us a letter and that our appointment with the wedding coordinator was Tuesday at 11am and to come back then, so we did…we never got the letter.

Tuesday 8/19 Morning: At 11am we met with Esperanza’s assistant, who understood English but didn’t speak it well. It was the most awkward 30mins, she was listening to us but not replying to anything we were saying, which lead me to believe that her English wasn’t that good. She told me that Esperanza was out all week but would be here the day of my wedding to ensure that everything went okay. Thank goodness I did my research and knew exactly what to ask for because they were not offering any helpful information. My problem starts here, I was originally told by Esperanza that I would need a minimum of 50 people to have the Gourmet Grill exclusively, well I only had 32 people confirmed at this time and they reserved this restaurant for us anyhow. We picked the menu options, and then I asked for the book of flowers, and the cake information. They would only allow me to choose my flowers from 3 out of 100 pages in the book they had and they told me that I should have brought a picture of how I wanted my cake to look. I was under the impression that they would show me a selection of items that I could choose from, but that wasn’t the case. I told them that I had a suit case full of favors, candles, diamond crystals for the table, disposable cameras, and our Unity Candle. They told us to go back to our room and bring back the suitcase full of the items so we could show them how we wanted everything (don’t forget this involved the 35 min trolley ride back and forth!) When we finally got back with the items my fiancé and I explained exactly how we wanted our Unity Candle to work and how we wanted all of the favors and candles to be displayed. They took notes and I thought everything was good to go.

I should also mention that when I originally spoke to Jeannette (coordinator #2), I planned on having the Standard 5 Star wedding package. Circumstances that came about during the year caused my fiancé and I to get legally married in the U.S.before our planned ceremony in D.R. Jeannette was sympathetic to the situation and said that everything in the package would remain the same; however I would have the ceremony performed by her in place of a judge. My family and closest friends were not aware of my marriage in the US and still think that this all happened in August, as we had originally intended. The one and only email I have to Esperanza explained the entire situation, she replied with some figures for the package change. However, when we met with her assistant the pricing had drastically changed. They told us we would get 75 photos plus a CD of the photos for $210.00. Pricing they gave us for the trio band was different, prices they gave us for the flowers were different than any of the packages provided to us. We ended up paying in cash for the flowers and the trio band and then they charged our credit card for everything else. We were under the impression that the photos were included in the package because they kept saying that all the wedding packages changed. We didn’t realize that this not included in the package until Sunday our departure day 8/24. See details under 8/24 Tuesday 8/19 Afternoon: My sister Nicole DeRienzo arrived, she had missed her flight the day before due to a car accident and when she arrived at the hotel they did not have a room for her. They told us that she was a no-show, so they gave her room away! They eventually asked us to wait 35 minutes so they could try and arrange a room for her. 35 minutes later they assign a room for her in the Premium Club Section of the resort, when we got to the room we realized it was a king size bed. Nicole was sharing a room with a male co-worker of mine who would arrive on 8/20 so they needed separate beds. We had to go back up to the front and request a room with two double beds. The gentleman behind the reception desk was so rude and kept showing me my sister’s voucher and how it didn’t state separate beds. This argument went on for 30 mins or so until he realized that it was set up as a single for one night and a double for the remainder of the week in his system. My finance could tell that the situation was getting heated so he spoke to the guy in Spanish and gave him a really nice tip. My sister was moved over one building to a room with two double beds. My mother and step father arrived; it was there first time traveling out of the United States, along with my fiancés parents and sisters. We decided to have dinner at the buffet in the front of the Punta Cana Lobby. My mother was upset because they did not serve coffee as a beverage, the waiter told her that she could go get coffee at the center bar, she left the restaurant and as she returned to the buffet they would not let her back in with the cup of coffee. The service at the restaurants were definitely hit and miss, sometimes the service was wonderful and other times we were begging to get a drink while we sat at the table.

Wednesday 8/20: We decided to go to the center pool with the family that arrived the night before. It was lunch time and everyone was hungry so we all walked over to the Ambar buffet, which was where 2 out of 4 of us were staying. The greeter stopped us at the front door and told us that only the ones that were staying in the Ambar section could eat here and that the others had to go to the buffet at the section they were staying. (This was all based off the wristband you had).My in-laws were so upset, so I decided that we should just go to the main buffet that we ate at the night before. When we got there, the young lady singled my mother in law out and told her that she had to change her clothes, because she had just came from the pool. We all had come from the pool, we were all damp. My mother in law is from the Dominican Republic and started crying because she felt embarrassed and humiliated. She said that people from her country do not speak to others like that. She went back to her room and the lunch event was ruined.

Wednesday 8/20: The remainder of our guest arrived on Wednesday; we spent from 2pm until 7:10pm in the front Lobby making sure our guests arrived and received their rooms. Luckily, we were up there because a lot of our guest experienced problems. Our best man and his wife were not even in the Gran Bahia Principe’s system. They had all of their documentation but the resort had nothing. It took 90 minutes for them to finally arrange a room for them and then they ended up keeping all of their boarding documents so when they left they didn’t even know what flight they were on. All of the booking was done through Amarjit, thank goodness! She was with us via telephone through the entire ordeal. My best friend and her husband were the last couple to finally get a room. The resort again had no reservation for them while they had all of their documentation, which stated “Paid in full, zero balance”. Apparently, there was a discrepancy with the credit card they had originally purchased their package with and after spending 3 hours trying to resolve the issue, they ended up paying for the entire 5 day stay (again) and decided to dispute the charges when they got back home.

Thursday 8/21: Wedding Day. We were previously unaware that 2 extra family members were traveling in from Santo Domingo to stay at the resort from 8/21-8/22 (they were surprising us by attending). That would change our number of guest from 32 to 34. We called Esperanza and explained the situation and she said she would call us back. 15 minutes passed and she called back only to say ”Sorry she cannot accommodate the two extra people. This is the reason why we meet in advance so the cook knows how much food to prepare.” My finance and I explained to her that we would be willing to give them our food in order for the resort to be able to accommodate them. She said that they cannot do that, the bride and groom must eat. Then we asked her if the food isn’t the problem then what is and she said the space... This is what blows my mind we spent an extra $2000 for an exclusive dinner reception. This venue could hold up to 50 people. I asked her do you know all of the details of our wedding because you haven’t been here all week and what you are saying to us doesn’t make sense. If we booked the room exclusively, why can’t you accommodate two extra people? Her response –“I will have to call you back”. My fiancé got so upset he left the room and went to the pool with a group of his friends. Twenty minutes later Esperanza calls back to inform me that they could now accommodate my two extra guests. I then asked her when I should be expecting my flowers and at what time the trolley will be picking me up to bring me to the wedding gazebo. She said (and I am not even exaggerating) “This phone call is not to discuss those items. It was just to inform me that the resort will accommodate my two extra guests”. I’m sorry, but this kind of service is just unacceptable! It was my wedding day and she was in charge of coordinating my event. I then asked her “Are you the wedding coordinator?”, mind you I haven’t even met her yet, and she says “Yes”, so I explain that I am here with concerns and questions about my wedding and its’ her job to make sure that these details are addressed. I told her that my fiancé is getting ready in another room and that his flowers need to be brought to that room along with a trolley to pick him up. She quickly says your flowers will be there and so will the trolley to pick you up before 5pm. I told her my wedding isn’t until 5:30pm and she informed me that it begins promptly at 5pm. I was completely shocked. I told her that there must be a scheduling mistake because we wanted a sunset wedding and my all of my guests think the wedding starts at 5:30pm. She said no, it’s always been 5pm and hangs up the phone. This phone call took place at 2:30pm, so I immediately panicked and called all my guests to inform them of the time change. I left messages at half of the room since I couldn’t get a hold of everyone. Stressed….

The flowers arrived at 3:30pm and they were half wilted. We immediately empted the small fridge and placed the flowers inside until the wedding. Along with my bouquet, they delivered boutonniere’s for my fiance and the best man, even though I requested these to be brought to the room he was getting ready in. Not really surprising at this point. The ceremony was nice besides the unity candle mishap and the how hot it was (which was not the fault of the hotel). We had explained that since it was so hot and there was no shade at the wedding gazebo that we wanted to remove the group portion of the unity candle to speed up the ceremony and just wanted the two parents to participate.

I gave clear detailed instruction about 5 times on how I wanted this to be done, please see below. My co-worker Glenda Waser also explained everything 2 minutes before the ceremony started.

The mothers of both the bride and the groom will be given two smaller lit candles, they will come up to the alter to light the side candles , The bride and groom then light theirs together.

To my great displeasure the unity candle ceremony went entirely different. The mother’s came up, they gave them the two side candles, and they made my fiancé and I hold the unity candle while the parents lit the center. Can you imagine how awkward that was for us? They just handed my fiancé and I the large unity candle to hold. It was completely and utterly disorganized and my guests couldn’t even see past both of our mothers backs.

The ceremony finished around 5:45pm. The reception staring at 6:30pm and the photographer wanted us to go to the beach and take pictures but it was so hot and we were already saturated with sweat. I requested that he come back at 7pm to take pictures during the reception. I didn’t want our wedding pictures to be ruined by sweat. He agreed to come back at 7 pm. My husband, the bridal party, and I went back to our room to freshen up before the reception. During this time I found out that Esperanza came at the end of the ceremony (I still had not met her yet). She did not show up to meet me or make sure the ceremony was running smoothly. She escorted three of my guest to the front lobby and charged them $70 for a night pass. I was infuriated. I was never told, informed, or explained that my guests would be charged if they were not staying at the same hotel. The three individuals that were charged were actually an executive from my place of employment, his sister, and his Administrative Assistant. They had attempted to stay at the same resort but couldn’t because the Gran Bahia Principe was overbooked, so they had no other choice but to stay at a neighboring hotel instead.

We called for a trolley at 6:15pm and they refused to accommodate us because they said that this was something that I needed to arrange ahead of time with the wedding coordinator. They took us directly to our rooms but refused to take us to the reception. Myself and the rest of the bridal party (all dressed up and recently freshened up) decided to walk to the front of the Ambar lobby and tipped one on the guys to take us to the reception, which was at the La Gourmet Restaurant in the front of Punta Cana lobby.

During the reception I apologized over and over again to my guests that were charged for the night. As soon as the two young assistant coordinators walked in, I explained how upset I was with the resort for escorting them away on a trolley while we were still taking pictures and how they should have come to my fiancé and I regarding the situation, so we could have paid for them. They told me that they would get Esperanza for me, an hour passed and in walks the infamous Esperanza. I explained to her my issues and she told me that she had already explained that anybody that wasn’t staying would be charged. I told that she never had a discussion about this with me. I have one email during 9 months of planning from her and that’s all. I then asked her why she escorted them away at the end of the ceremony, when the reception was taking place at the front lobby anyhow. I also asked her why she didn’t inform me and my husband first before forcing these people to pay for a wedding that we invited them too. She blew me off and I was so exhausted by all the anxiety that I decided I would wait until I got home to deal with everything.

We spent $2000 on an exclusive dinner reception for 34 guests, those guest included the three people that the resort charged, so we were basically doubled charged. By the way, the three guests they charged stayed from 5pm and left immediately after the reception dinner. The dinner reception wasn’t exclusive either, we found other guest that were staying at the resort coming in and out. Let’s put it this way, I was so sick to my stomach that I spent half of the reception in the restroom, vomiting. The coordinators were nowhere to be found after 7:30pm.

I had read other reviews where people would receive daily towel design creations on their bed with flowers. I also read that on the wedding day, they would drape over the bed a beautiful wedding dress made out of bed sheets and sprinkled it with fresh flowers. We received one towel creation for the duration of our stay and that was the day after our wedding. The night of our wedding the bath tub was supposed to be decorated and filled with rose pedals, the tub was empty. I love Tasha, was half written in petals.

Friday 8/22: Was the only good day because we scheduled an excursion (Party Boat) for our entire wedding party and got exactly what we paid for.

Saturday Morning 8/24: I went to guest services to confirm the reservation for dinner at the Garden Grill for my Mother’s B-day. I was assured when I first made the reservation that they had blocked the restaurant for 16 people and that I could add the additional two people the day of. When I went to verify the reservation it took 30 mins for the lady to find reservation and then she told me that it was only blocked off for 14 people. I requested to add the additional four guests to the list, only to find out that they were not allowed because they were staying at different areas of the resort and the restaurant that we had reservation could only accommodate guest staying in the Ambar section. To my dismay I told her to leave it for 14 people and headed to the Ambar pool to meet my friends and family. We had learned by that point what we needed to do. We ended up tipping the front greeter of the restaurant so we could get the additional 4 guest in to celebrate my mother’s b-day.

The pool: As I mentioned earlier our guest were spread out in different areas of the resort, with that being said there were days where everyone could hang out at the center pool and it was fine and other days where were 5 of my guest including my Aunt who traveled from Boston, MA were asked to leave the pool because it was exclusive to the guests in that area. We have a very close friend who is heavy set, about 300 lbs, and feels most comfortable wearing a shirt in the pool. He was told that he could not be in the pool with a shirt on. While there were others around us wearing whatever they wanted.

We had issues with the pool towels, if you stayed in the Ambar section your room came with blue pool towels, well we didn’t know that is was a requirement to turn in your dirty towel at the front desk in order to get a clean towel. We were under the impression that if you took a towel out of the room, that the cleaning service would replenish it along with all of the towels. A lot of our guest were refused towels because they had none to turn in, some of our guest that stayed at the Club Premier Section were charged $40.00 because they took their towels to the pool but never returned them to the room. (We ended up tipping and negotiating this as well).

My husband and I ended up tipping $700.00 within 5 days to accommodate our guest because of all the ridiculous rules that seemed to apply only when it was convenient.

The dress code for the lunch buffet was even an issue. Most people could wear sandals, shorts , a t-shirt or tank top and it wasn’t a problem. A lot of my guest were asked to change their tops in order to be able to enter the lunch buffet. The service was ridiculous and not fair to say the least.

I could write a book on the issues we experienced while staying at this resort.

Additional Issues:
• We were only allowed to book three restaurants for the week and were forced to eat at buffets exclusive to our area the rest of the time. Thus segregating the entire group from one another.
• My guest complained that wine was an extra cost at some of the restaurants.
• A number of times we were on the trolley or just walking as they were spraying pesticides from a truck and we indigested it.
• One of our guests is paraplegic and stayed in a handicapped assessable room, the air conditioner and refrigerator did not work. We called for assistance three days straight before the problem was resolved.
• Some of our guest experienced problems with their room keys not working. When they walked over to the main front reception desk, they were told that they had to walk to the reception desk of the area they were staying at to get it reactivated. This was absolutely ridiculous because the main front desk was where the key was originally issued to you. This was where most guests checked in and out.
• In addition check out was at noon, some of our guests were not advised that check out was noon and had flights that didn’t leave until later in the afternoon. When they returned to their room to finish packing and check out, their room keys were all disabled. Everyone of them had to go through the same issue with getting their room key reactivated. It wasn’t even 15 minutes past 12 when some of our guest returned to their rooms to pack and couldn’t gain entry.

8/24 Sunday: First thing in the morning we went back up to the front Punta Cana Reception desk and picked up our empty suitcase (they had taken it since it had all of the additional wedding items), which they never brought back to us after the wedding. At that time I asked about our wedding photos, since nobody ever contacted us. We were told that we needed to pick them up from the Photoshop. My husband and I went to the Photoshop where there was a huge problem. Apparently, the photographer was not there and the gentleman in the shop argued with my husband about the price and the quantity of the photos. My husband spent two hours on his cell phone arguing with the photographer who told him that the original price we got was from last week and that he could not honor those prices. We tried to get a hold of the assistant wedding coordinator but of course they were nowhere to be found and our bus to the airport was arriving shortly, we ended up purchasing 50 photos out of 200 for $310.00. We were promised professional photos, and although the pictures are nice, they are not centered, some of them are blurry and not focused. They assured us that they could fix them the way we wanted but the gentleman working there got called to another job and left. With the clock ticking and this being the icing on the cake, we left and just got our bus to the airport.

Overall the resort made close to $50,000 for one week of chaos. The staff was not well trained and lacked customer services to the highest degree. I cannot believe the deficiency in HOSPITALITY! I will never ever recommend this hotel or return again.
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  Bahia Principe Punta Cana  Catherine
June 2008

Well, the actual events leading up to the wedding were the biggest disappointment of our trip. The actual wedding itself went off just fine. However, everything leading up to it was so unnecessarily stressful.

Leading up to the big event, we tried to stay in contact with the resort and understand what we needed to decide in advance, however, it was nearly impossible to get in contact with anyone via email or phone. When we did get in contact with the resort, we were told we need to make a lot of decisions (restaurants, cakes, flowers) as far in advance as possible. However, the follow-up information was never sent to us. At one point we were told to provide our documentation (birth certificates, single affidavit, etc.) in advance, however, it ended up that we were suppose to provide this when we actually arrived at the resort. When we faxed in our deposit for the wedding (9 months in advance) we reserved the restaurants, however, when we got there those weren’t available and we went with the BBQ for the rehearsal dinner and the Garden Grill for the reception. (Both restaurants turned out fine and the food was delicious.) We went through “WeDo” wedding documentation to get all of our paperwork in order for the wedding. They were so easy to work, very responsive and had a very quick turn around.

We got to the resort, had lunch and then went immediately to check with the wedding coordinator. We were scheduled to meet with her the next evening at 5 (two days before the wedding.) At the meeting we picked flowers, cake (chocolate or vanilla), menus etc. We were told the wedding would be at 11 am instead of 4 pm. This is the hottest time of the day and there is no shade at the wedding gazebo. We were quite insistent that we have the 4 pm time instead since that was what our deposit said that was the best time for us. The coordinator did not admit that there was a scheduling mistake with the judge until we found the form we sent in and pressed the issue. She then said there was a scheduling mistake. She then said she’d try to schedule a different time with the judge if his schedule allowed. Up until 5:30 the day before the wedding, the time was still up in the air. The most difficult part of this was that the hotel had started telling our guests that the wedding would be at 11 the next day so we had a huge communication problem. Also, we checked with the wedding coordinator 3 times prior to 5:30 on the day before the wedding and kept being told that she would know in the next 30 minutes, hour etc. and never had an idea until early evening. We ended up with a compromise and the judge came at 11 to do the paperwork and we had the service at 5 pm that evening. Which worked out fine for our schedule.

The day of the wedding it poured all day long. Which is somewhat ironic since it didn’t rain any other day during our stay. Oh well, I guess we didn’t take valuable beach time away from our guests since they couldn’t be at the beach or pool anyway. The resort was very accommodating with the rain – although we had to insist on trolleys for our guests. So at 2pm a decision was made on the weather and it was decided that the ceremony would be inside at the Garden Grill terrace. This worked out just fine, however, my maid of honor had to call around to all of the guests and let them know the location had been changes due to the weather. The wedding coordinator had schedule a hair appointment at the spa for the bride at 2 pm the day of the wedding. When we arrived at the spa, apparently they didn’t have the appointment on the books and just kept telling me that there was no appointment. With time quickly fleeting, I decided to do my own hair and went back to the room. The flowers arrived as scheduled in my room. While they were slightly different from what we had ordered, they were still beautiful. A trolley arrived to take the bride, bridesmaids, and flower girls to the wedding location. We got dressed at the garden grill due to the weather and the ceremony went nicely. The band was a lot of fun! The actual ceremony is very short if you haven’t written your own vows and don’t have any readings. There were mimosas and champagne. We took trolleys to the lobby for drinks and pictures. We had lots of guests taking our picture – a little weird! Afterward, the trolleys took everyone back to the garden grill for dinner. Much to our dismay, the restaurant had lost our seating cards with everyone’s seating assignments and there were only numbers on the tables. The dinner was nice and the service was quite good – chicken caesar salad, Louisiana corn chowder, skirt steak with mashed potatoes and eggplant, pineapple “cobbler” (really just glazed pineapple) with ice cream. The cake was lovely and quite nice. We then moved everyone into the second room of the terrace for dancing and mingling. We brought our own music on an I-pod and the resort provided the speakers and cables. We did bring our own cables just in case we needed them.

The turndown service included floral arrangements throughout the room and flowers on the bed. Breakfast arrived in the room late the next morning, however, it did arrive. It included champagne, juice, coffee, rolls & croissants, fruit and yogurt.

We had a wonderful wedding party that coordinated a lot of things for us and insisted on the trolleys due to the weather and an opportunity for the guests to have happy hour. The wedding party also coordinated the flow of people and straightened out the seating arrangements when our seating cards went missing. Everything wouldn’t have been as nice had they not taken care of all of these details for us!
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  Bahia Principe Punta Cana  Amy and Kris
April 2008

It was beyond our expectations! And stress free! We started planning this wedding a year ago and I was a little worried as communication via email to the wedding coordinator was lacking at times. Like I mentioned, we arrived on Thursday. On Friday morning, Mariana had placed a note under our door with an appointment to meet her on Saturday. Everything was arranged in our 45 minute meeting. She had a book of different bouquets and flowers, There was a choice of white or chocolate wedding cake. Choice of music (we chose the musical trio for $100 – you must choose these guys…they are well worth it!!!!) Choice of father and/or mother walking me down the aisle. I chose to have a dance with my father and with Kris. I also asked for a Unity Sand Ceremony to be included and for Kris’ brother to read a poem. Everything was fully accommodated. These coordinators do 4 weddings per day. They know what they are doing, so if you have any worries or concerns at all…just let them go….it will all be taken care of when you arrive.

We also paid for the photographer and videographer. Also well worth it. The pictures were amazing. The photographer took 205 pictures in total and we purchased them all.

Summary: Overall, we had the best vacation ever. This was our second time to the Dominican and even though there so are many other resorts to choose from, we will definitely go back to this one. For the rest of the members of our group, it was their first time on a vacation like this and they were in awe of everything. Again, the wedding was spectacular. We would not have done it any other way.

If anyone has any questions or want to see some of our photos, please email us at kmaher@nb.sympatico.ca
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  Bahia Principe Punta Cana  Jen & Brant
February 2008

Brant and I arrived on Jan 30th. We ended up in Villa (1) 1210 – We could see the ocean from our balcony and we stepped out directly on the beach. The entire trip was perfect. We had 19 family and friends joins us on Feb 3rd and everyone went home on Feb 10th. No one had any complaints. This was my 3rd trip to Punta Cana but my first stay at the Bahia. No one had any stomach issues. The food was great. I had mugs made for everyone. This was a big hit as the bartenders would fill them with what ever they wanted and it kept the drinks cold. We all were booked with Apple Vacations – everyone choose the upgrade to the golden club. We were glad that we did. The 19 guests that came in on Sunday all were checked in at a private reception and had Al Cart dinner reservations already set up as a group before they arrived. We had access to a private pool and the entire resort. They also gave us 6 Al Carts rather then the 4 our packaged include. All of the Al Carts were for the entire group so we got to eat together every night. Golden Club let us make changes to the times and restaurants with no problems.

Wedding--I received a letter from Mariana the day we arrived with an appointment time to go over the arrangements for the wedding. We had our meeting on Saturday Feb 2 at 11am. The meeting only took us about 20 minutes. All of my documents were completed by WEDO and in order. Location was the beach. I had already requested the Beach & Garden Grill Terrace in prior emails and was able to keep these locations. We picked out the menu – Chicken Caesar Salad, Louisiana Corn Chowder, Filet and Cheesecake. Everything was excellent. My favorite meal of our stay. I choose my flowers out of the book Mariana had. I wanted red to go with the guy shirts and girls dresses. I got 4 bridesmaids bouquets – same as mine just smaller and 3 wrist corsages for a total of $125.00. Brant and I just wanted a stress free wedding and that is what we got. We did not add in any extras and we did not bring down any decorations. You really do not need anything they do a great job with decorating the wedding location and the restaurants.

Our wedding was Feb 6th at 4pm. The bridesmaids met me in my room at 2-2:30 to do hair, makeup and get dressed. We did our own hair - no one wanted anything fancy we just wanted to be natural. By 3:30 we were all outside taking pictures. Family and guests headed to the beach location at 3:45. We had told Marianna that if the judge was going to be late that we wanted to go ahead without him and sign the papers at a later time. Everything goes by Dominican Time – which is when they get around to it. Our flowers came about 4- 4:15 pm. We were informed that they were going to pick up the photographer and groomsmen next. They would be back for us in about 20 min. I think the wedding started about 4:30 -4:45 the judge was there and the ceremony & photo’s took about 20 – 25 minutes. We had dinner reservations at 6:30. Dinner lasted about 2 hours. We were the only party on the Terrace and they did have music playing softly in the background. After dinner we headed to the Lobby Bar and then to the Karaoke bar for the rest of the evening.

We could not have asked for a more perfect vacation and wedding.

We met with the photographer on Saturday the 9th. We wanted all of the photo’s he had taken so we picked out the 24 that came with the package to be printed out and asked for all to be put on CD.

We saw at least 2 – 3 weddings everyday. Most took place in the gazebo.
I know most people shy away from the beach due to the crowd that it drawls. My parents said that people actually waited around to see the wedding and yes I had strangers taking photos and video but we loved it. The resort does a good job of making sure that they clear and aisle and keep the local tourist and sunbathers back during the ceremony.
But all of our extra un-invited guests clapped and cheered once we were married and even came up to congratulated us.
Jorge’s (photographer) pictures have no sunbathers in the shots, except maybe one when I came down the aisle He did a great job.

Photo's Can be seen at www.jenbrantdestwedding.shutterfly.com
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Punta Cana PrincessBrenda
July 2007

Yes, we got married there! It was...uhm...a nice experience. First of all we had to have papers translated and legalized here in Canada, so that was a little costly. Second, we were experiencing problems with communicating with Francelia the wedding coordinator in setting up the wedding logistics prior to leaving. When I say problems, I mean that she was not fast at returning emails (3+ days) and then would only answer 1 question out of 6. This was frustrating for us as we are used to communicating quickly and efficiently through email. Then 3 weeks prior to leaving, Francelia sent us an email informing us of a new DR government fee for the judge - an additional $360 US to the already $950 US wedding fee. We were not happy but had our hands tied at this point.

When we got to hotel, we had a lovely and delicious fruit basket in our room with DR sparkling wine. The sparkling wine, in our opinion, is only acceptable for mimosas - which is what we used it for.

We met with Francelia 2 days before the wedding and she was very nice and very overworked. We now understood why she did not answer our emails quickly - she coordinates every single detail by herself for the 3 Princess resorts. She sometimes has upward of 4 weddings a day!

Our advice to others wishing to marry there - don’t pick your location until you are there. Francelia will take you around and show you what is available. We had originally selected the beach pergola but once we saw it, and the fact that speedos for out of shape men and likewise bikinis for ladies who should not, I quickly changed my mind.

Not to mention the occasional topless lady walkers. I could not see myself showing photos with that type of possible background. We felt that we wanted a more private ceremony. We then dealt with the spa which has a beautiful and private inner garden. We had to pay a little extra to use it and in the end it rained so hard that morning that the grounds were soaked - so we moved everything to the little chapel. The spa was quick to give us back our money. Note here: bargain bargain bargain...take whatever they say is the price and cut it in half.

All in all, it was nice ceremony but a bit pricy for what you really get. I did get a lovely bouquet but the flowers and decor was missing from the chapel. If I had to do again...I’d probably go somewhere else like a Sandals.
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Punta Cana PrincessTracy & Simon
June 2004

The Wedding
The Wedding was at 4 pm on Monday April 26. We had the wedding ceremony at the gazebo beside the spa and then had pictures taken on the beach. We choose the gazebo in the gardens by the spa rather than at the beach because we wanted a little more privacy for the ceremony (we did not want bathing suit clad people in the back ground), and because it is a little windy at the (we did not want the sand to become a problem). We had our Wedding Dinner at the Italian Restaurant for all 31 of us. We had a great time the meal was wonderful. The staff at the restaurant was amazing, we had the last seating (8:30) so that there was not a time limit. The staff was very accommodating to anything we asked such as when we asked for the music to be turned down for speeches, it was done without question. Very professional group.

Wedding Co-Ordinator
Our Wedding Co-Ordinator was Gabriel who works for the Princess Resorts (Bavaro Princess, Caribe Club Princess, Tropical Princess & Punta Cana Princess) he was very professional. Before we left for our trip we had allot of e-mail and he was very prompt at answering a very nervous brides questions. Once we got to the resort there was a letter in our room to arrange a "Pre-Wedding" meeting to ensure that all the choices we had were confirmed. We had pretty much settled everything over e-mail (such as the Cake, the time, the date, ceremony location, picture location, the video, the photos, the restaurant etc.) I had to choose from a photo album my flowers (which were delivered to our room the day of the wedding and were gorgeous) when we made a request to change the restaurant to another there was not a problem it was settled immediately. Because of Gabriel’s excellent attention to detail the wedding went off exactly as planned and we could have not planned this without him.

Wedding Photographer & Video
Our Wedding pictures are stunning, the photographer was professional and knew exactly what he was doing. He made us feel very comfortable. We had 25 pictures and negatives included in our wedding package and we had the option to purchase more pictures (and negatives) for an extra charge. The day after the wedding (yes that quick) the photographer met with us in the lobby of the resort and gave us time to look at all the shots taken and to choose only the photos we wanted there was absolutely no pressure. There is also no bartering for pictures as the photographer is hired by Princess Resorts who own the photos & negatives, but the prices with negatives are very fair. We also choose to purchase the video; this was ready 2 days after the wedding including editing and music inserted. (You have the opportunity to choose the music you would like to have inserted) We requested just one song to be inserted (our wedding song. >From this Moment by Shania Twain) and the other music we left the videographer choose. The only thing that we regret about doing this is we had included in the wedding package a live trio for 1 hour and they were excellent...if we would have known we would have requested that that portion of the wedding video not be edited over with music because the trio music was beautiful on it's own, now we cannot hear them on the video. (Thankfully Tracy's brother also has video) Very well worth the money, it's only 27 minutes long but holds allot of nice memories.

We would go back in a heart beat and hope to for a future anniversary but this time we might not bring the group!

Cheers
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Bavaro Princess Laurie ~ Canada
June 2009

April 18-25

Our wedding was great! It all went so fast though. A few small glitches but it made it more interesting and made for some stories and laughs!

My fiancé and I along with our guests arrived at the resort at 11 AM and were told we could not get into our rooms until 2:30 - 3, I was pretty upset at first but then our guests seemed to not care too much. We had to leave our luggage at the front of the lobby but it was ok because they have a few security guards there at all times. I did however not want to leave my dress with my luggage so I went to guest services near the check in counter and they put it in the office for me. I just picked it up later that day.We were all tired and had been up since 2:30 AM but we were so excited we just changed in the washrooms and went to the lobby bar, had a few drinks then ate at the buffet just off the lobby, then went out exploring for a bit and in no time it was 2 PM and my room was ready as well as the others.

When we got to the resort, I told the front desk we were having our wedding that week and they gave us a folder. Make sure you tell them this as they may forget to give you the folder. There was coupons in the folder - one for your hair, one for your complimentary dinner at the Licey restaurant, one for a massage and some other details. In the folder, there was a letter telling us to meet Francelia the day before the wedding at 11 AM to discuss the details.Because I told them at the front desk we were getting married, the lady upgraded us from a Junior Suite to one of the bungalows. When we were able to check in, they sent a bellboy with me to our room and it was really nice. It smelled musty but we brought a candle and once you've been in the room for a few minutes you don't even notice. Plus we expected the musty smell anyways, it is very common down south.

Long before our trip, I gave Francelia (our coordinator) information such as extra items we wanted at our wedding. We had favors and candy sprinkles, our own wedding cake decorations etc. I had informed her we would be having more then 20 people (they are supposed to charge $10US extra per person above 20 people for champagne and cake). When we met with her, it took no time at all, just went over the flowers, room numbers, what time we had to be ready for our trolley's to pick us up, what time the flowers would arrive, we also went over the menu for our restaurant (more on that later).. it went very fast. Just bring your notes with you to the meeting. We were told we had to pay extra for my maid of honors bouquet, plus 2 boutonnieres for the boys. On a side note, My fiancé asked his brother to be his best man but then later found out blood relatives could not sign the register so we had to ask a friend. I also gave Francelia our favors and candies to sprinkle on the table, at the dinner, and some fake flowers to cascade down the cake because I didn't want their cake topper (more on this later). Francelia at this point also needed our originals our Spanish documents.

A half an hour later we met with the manager of the Photoshop to discuss photography. That was pretty straight forward. They need to know roughly what you want pictures of, if you want them to come to your room too and what package you will be getting (we just got the 15 included in our package but ended up buying 2 more for $20US each). They need to know all this so they know how much time to allot to your wedding.

The day of the wedding was beautiful! Very hot. My Maid of Honor and I had hair apts at 9 AM, the two of us took 1.5 hours for our hair then the hairdresser helped us put fake nails on. Went back to my room to get ready. At some point around 11 I managed to lock us out of my room because I left the door opened when I was on the deck and the wind blew it shut. I called from a nearby room and someone came right over to let us in! Flowers arrived at around 11:30 AM, the wedding was at 1. The trolley came to pick us up around 1 and the driver called our room to tell us they were out front. The trolley was all decorated with pink flowers, really cute. The ride there was so fun! I had my mother and brother give me away so they were in the trolley with me and my maid of honor and my sister in law who was with us doing our make up. My fiancé and his brother also got a lift in the trolley just before we did.

The wedding was really quick. The trio was awesome and stayed for about an hour and played music. Everyone enjoyed the delicious cake and champagne and there was a lot of it! they even let us take the extra champagne to drink later in our room (four bottles) and found out later that Francelia didn't charge us for the extra 9 people!! Make sure if you want beach pictures with your crew to specify this with the photographer. Things went so fast and he had to leave after a while and we only took photos near the trees. They were still beautiful. oh.. and the cake had the funny 80's style plastic cake topper on it WITH my flowers, but we just took a moment and removed it which turned out to be funny in the pictures. The cake was beautiful and one of the best I've ever tasted. The trolley will come back to pick you up again if you need a ride but we wanted to stay down by the gazebo longer and then go to the buffet, which was really fun in your wedding clothes. Lots of congratulations from strangers and fun photo opportunities, how often do you see a bride and groom in a cafeteria! and the bar tenders kept giving us drinks the whole time. I should also mention that a lot of strangers will watch the wedding and even take pictures but I didn't mind at all.

After we ate at the buffet, we took our own photos on the beach (my sister and a friend are photographers by hobby and did an awesome job!) Then we went around the resort and took more photos. We went back to our room to relax before supper. The maid's had made a path of flowers up to our bed where they made a design with the sheets and they had filled the jacuzzi up with water, bubbles and flower petals. So nice!

Then we headed for the Bella Pasta restaurant for 6. We were told we would have it for 2 hours to ourselves but it turned out to be 1 hour. This wasn't a big deal because we couldn't do speeches or anything there, the acoustics are bad and even though we were alone with our guests we couldn't hear much unless you were close to the next person. It wasn't too bad, just not good for speeches. So I had to make an announcement that we would meet in the lobby around 9 PM and find a quiet corner to do speeches, toss the flowers etc. Francelia, my fiancé and I had looked over the menu at our meeting the day before and we picked one salad, one soup and one desert for everyone, and they had their choice between 3 pastas. When we got to the restaurant they had made special little menus for the table that we got to keep.
I had the lasagna and it was delicious. Everyone else enjoyed theirs as well.

I must say we were a little disappointed that when we went to get on the resort trolley to get to the lobby, it was so busy we couldn't get on and had to walk back. My dress got really dirty. The only place we could find was next to the small pool near the hotel part. We put some pool chairs together in a big circle and did out speeches and it was awesome! so unique and private. So after the supper, we met in the lobby but it was too loud there as well.

Just to show how helpful they can be at the resort:
When we were at the Bella Pasta, my brother asked one of the waiters if we could borrow a guitar to have a sing song later that night. The guy did not understand and called Francelia thinking my brother meant we were mad the trio wasn't at our supper. Francelia called to find out what was going on and my fiancé said we hadn't complained. We figured it out later that there was a miscommunication. Later in the week when I ran into Francelia, I explained to her the mix up and she said basically she would try and get us a guitar and have it delivered to where we were all eating on our last night. Sure enough! a guitar showed up at the restaurant on our last night and some of the staff at the Japanese restaurant hung out with us as we sang and played the guitar and as they were closing the restaurant they would listen to us singing and they had big smiles on their faces. It was really awesome!!

Our photos were beautiful, very colourful and clear, although they did over-photoshop a couple. Make sure you get all the ones you picked, they made a mistake and I had to go back and have them change it but they were really good about it.

I would not hesitate to recommend this resort for a wedding. Francelia has been helpful and sweet and everyone seems to want to make sure you have fun and are accommodated. I know some people have complained about a number of things but I think that a lot of people will only give a review to make sure others know they had a bad experience. People that would give a good review don't bother taking the time. I talked to two other brides that week and their wedding went great. One thing I must say, I would not book the Chopin restaurant for your supper, it's another buffet and you have to get up to get your food. We ate there another night and It was fine to eat there (good shrimp and potato salad!) but not for a wedding. I hear Licey is expensive (it is not included in your package) and so is the beach party.
It's nicer to be waited on for all your courses at your wedding. I would probably recommend the Seafood restaurant over the Bella Pasta as the acoustics and decor are more appropriate if I remember correctly. If you have any questions or would like to see any photos, please don't hesitate to contact me at gaudetlaurie@hotmail.com

I also want to point out to you to take time to relax and enjoy your day. Before we left for our trip, I was bogged down with details and things to do with the wedding i.e. favors, flowers, handouts for guests etc... but when you get there and everyone including you is having so much fun in the heat etc.. you almost don't care anymore as long as you are at the alter on time and put that ring on your finger. Things are so easygoing there,.. after a few days you won't care if the cake is ugly, wonder why you fussed over favors and details.. I would never go back and have a big wedding, it was awesome!!


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Bavaro PrincessSara & Jeremy ~ Pittsburg, PA
May 2007

We received a packet from the wedding coordinator when we first arrived at the resort. It stated in the documents we received, that we were to meet with her the next day. Up to this point I had only communicated with her through email. So we went and met her. Francelia is very nice and easy to understand. She went through everything with the wedding and went over all the details we had discussed through email. I then had to pick out my bouquet. I picked a tropical bouquet – it was so beautiful. The guys’ boutonnières were very nice too. She told us that we needed to pay for the wedding after the meeting, but the guy at the desk hadn’t entered any of the information in yet. So we paid the next day. I picked the princess package, which includes 15 photos. We went and met with the photographer after the meeting with Francelia. He just asked what we wanted pictures of and went over some details – only took about 10 minutes.

I should mention that the first day I arrived I made my hair appointment. My mom and bridesmaid waited until the next day to make theirs and they had no problem. So we were off to the beach until Monday, the day of the wedding. My mom and I went to get our hair done about 2 pm. The wedding was at 6 pm. It took a little over 2 hours to get finished. We went back to our rooms – the flowers had already arrived. So we distributed all the boutonnières and corsages to everyone. I then went to my room to get ready. She will tell you that the bride and bridesmaids are picked up last. We were to be picked up at 6 pm, but the judge was late – so we didn’t get picked up until 6:30. Not really a problem. We arrived at the gazebo to find about 90 people there. There were a lot of extra people just watching the wedding. The guys were already waiting for us. There is a path to walk through the grass lined up with palm leaf decorated candles – very nice. It all looked so beautiful. The ceremony is in Spanish and Francelia translated. Very quick – took about 10 minutes. After the ceremony we got pictures and then headed to the reception.

We opted for the beach party, since there were so many of us. Yes, it is a little pricey – but so worth it. It started around 7 pm. They set up a private area beside the beach restaurant with round tables. It looked very nice. The food was wonderful. They have it set up buffet style in front of this huge grill they are cooking on. We had lobster, steak, shrimp, turkey, fish, chicken, squid, potatoes, rice, desserts, etc. This is just what you get. After dinner, we cut the cake and then started dancing. I had brought a cd with some songs on it. We had our first dance and father/daughter dance, and then let the dj take care of the rest. It turned out so nice and wonderful. It lasted until midnight and almost everyone was still there dancing. I would definitely do it again.

Overall, we all had a great time and loved the resort. I would definitely come back to this resort and I wouldn’t change one thing about the wedding. Everything turned out great and went by too quick. If anyone has any questions or would like to see pictures, please email me at rupertsara@hotmail.com.
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Bavaro PrincessNoemí and Jordi ~ Spain
May 2007

It was the most wonderful day for my groom and I, some of our friends travelled with us from many different places of Spain to be with us. We came from Barcelona, but some of our guests came from Pamplona and Alicante, also in Spain. Then all start at the fight from Madrid to Punta Cana because 11 people went in the same plane (2 days after came 3 people more).

The wedding day was unforgettable, ´cause our friends were there with us and everything was perfect.

Our wedding coordinator was Francelia Pérez, the day after our arrival we had a meeting with her and decided the flowers, location and meal for the wedding. Even when some of our guests were placed in another Princess Hotel, everything was perfect, they took them in the morning for them to spent all day with us in Bávaro Princess.

If you have any doubt, please forget it, if you decide to get married there... you´ll never forget your WEDDING DAY
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Bavaro PrincessSarah and Jamie ~ Vancouver, Canada
March 2007

Our wedding turned out fantastic, not without a few destination-wedding hiccoughs however…

Our room was beautiful - right beside the pool and as close as you can get to the beach (#351). All promised bonuses of our “Princess package” were there, including the bottle of rum, fruit basket and king bed. Our wedding folder was brought with our luggage delivery and included our meeting time with Francelia, the wedding coordinator. We met with her the following day at 9:00am along with my mother. We provided most of the documents, however forgot our witnesses’ passport photocopies. This turned out to be quite a headache, so make sure you hand everything to Francelia at that time (things do not seem to travel well between check-in, check-out, guest services and Francelia).

We chose our flowers from a book of photos, only four or five options, but there was something reasonably close to what I wanted-orange roses with white lilies and some tropical greens. I forgot to specify a boutonniere, but my groom showed up with one that matched anyway. We also received coupons for hair, messages and complimentary dinner at Licey (the gourmet, a la carte restaurant not included in the all-inclusive). Francelia also informed us of a new tax of $360 USD, which she seemed to think we should have known about. The explanation was vague, just a new government tax on weddings. Mom paid at check-out after some confusion at the front desk, but I still got a phone call the day of from Francelia asking why we had not paid. I emphatically assured we had paid, and twenty minutes later she confirmed this. I did not mention this to my slightly already stressed mother.

I had a few concerns about the day, mainly around timing. Prior to the wedding day, we were told we had to be married at 11:00am, no other options due to judge availability. I was worried that our 11 guests would have nothing to do during the break between ceremony and dinner. I thought just a swim at the pool would be anticlimactic, so I looked into a “Barcaza boat” charter. This did not pan out due to poor communication with the company, but thankfully so, as our ceremony time was vague at best. On arrival, Francelia did not have a time for our ceremony, but assured us it would be between 1:00 and 5:00pm, and the judge would be at least half hour late. We were married around two at the gazebo, which was beautiful. The ceremony was in Spanish and translated by Francelia. She asked at our meeting if we had our own vows, which we did not. I said I just wanted something traditional. All we had to do was listen and say “I Do”. The Caribbean trio we booked played well over their hour at the ceremony and were a big hit with the guests. We did end up at the pool to cool off between photos and dinner, and had tons of fun at the swim-up bar.

The things that were not so great were counter balanced by others that far exceeded expectation. Our photos are stunning; the photographer did a great job limiting the amount of bathing suit-clad lookey-loos out of the frames and the colors could not be more brilliant and tropical. We were able to select our prints from approximately 160 proofs two days after the ceremony.
We ended up choosing 28 prints, 13 extra from our package. We were also able to choose any of the photos and have the jpg file on a CD of $5 a photo. Our total for photos was $286 USD - not bad at all. Both Moms also ordered photos and CDs. They were available to pick-up within two days. We did not have a video done.

The setting was gorgeous, tons of big palm trees, bright white sand and turquoise water. The hair stylist was professional and did what was in the photo I brought (also did a wind test with a blow-dryer). The food at Chopin (up-scale buffet) was fantastic. We had originally chosen the seafood restaurant El Pescador, however on arrival this looked too cafeteria-ish. We were not thrilled with the food at Licey the following evening, so we were pleased with our selection. Chopin is surrounded by huge foliage and a lagoon, and a pianist circles in a small boat. Francelia decorated the table with red candles and flower petals. She said in our meeting if we had brought extra decorations she would be pleased to set this up, however I thought it looked fine the way it was. The cake was brought from the ceremony to the dinner, where we continued to laugh at its ridiculousness. I would suggest bringing your own topper, unless you enjoy ceramics from 1983.

All in all, a wedding for the record books in my mind. No matter where you decide to have your day, there will be some bumps. The difference between a fantastic dream and total nightmare is in perspective. If you are looking for a well timed, controlled, traditional North American wedding, my advice is to stay in North America. If you can shrug off the little stuff, I say dance the meringue and cheers with a ridiculous amount of rum at The Bavaro Princess.


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Bavaro PrincessCharise & Aaron
November 2006

We arrived late night on Saturday Sept. 30/06 and our wedding was scheduled for Tuesday Oct. 3/06 @ 5pm. Upon checking in, my husband and I received a “Wedding Portfolio”. In the Wedding Portfolio it had documents for the following:

a) Wedding Package, listing all the items and inclusions that you are SUPPOSED to receive with your package. We chose the Princess Package.

b) Rehearsal Agenda, outlining the time and day that the Wedding Planner (Francellia) meets with the Bride and Groom

c) Itinerary of the actual Wedding Day

Vouchers for the A la Carte Restaurant and the Spa Treatments (For the Bride and Groom - as indicated in the package). d)

e) Comment Cards

We met with Francellia the day before the wedding and brought all the original documentation, the 2 passport photocopies of the witnesses, payment for the wedding, **guests dinners are $35.00 USD

Francellia charges extra costs to your room and you pay @ the front desk**. We also gave Francellia decorations for the cake, our own cake knife and lifter, and sparklers for the reception. Make sure to designate someone responsible to hold on to your belongings or they will go missing!!! I would like to point out that Francellia was not able to get the flowers I wanted (Calla Lillies and Cymbidium Orchids). She informed me that she needed 2 months in advance to order them even though I requested them with attached photos in the Wedding Registration Form four months before the trip?!. Thankfully, I was prepared for this situation and I brought my own artificial flowers from home and they were absolutely fabulous.

Please inform and remind your guests of the ceremony time, location and where the reception will be held as soon as you confirm with the wedding co-ordinator. It will save you headaches and constant phone calls to your room when you are trying to enjoy your vacation!!!

The day of the wedding the guys went golfing before the ceremony while me and the girls went to get our hair done @ the Spa, my updo was free and they had to pay $35.00 USD for their hair. The hairstylist did not take well to suggestions and always wanted her way, she also spoke very little english but I managed to understand her because I grew up with the Spanish language. The hairstylist was the only one working on our hair so book your appointment well in advance to make it to your wedding on time!

Around 4:30 pm a horse and carriage pulled up to our villa (#354) The driver nodded to us to get in and took us to the Gazebo. We got to the area and no one was there just Francellia and a few helpers. She sent us back in a hurry in the decorated tram @ high speed trying to avoid the guys who were just a stones throw away in Villa #321. As me and the girls waited to be taken AGAIN to the Gazebo, my mother-in-law flew past us on her way to the ceremony area in the decorated tram. Apparently, she was taken on a scenic route to the Gazebo when she was suppose to be picked up WITH my husband and groomsman to the ceremony. As it turned out, the guys had to walk to the Gazebo, and the decorated tram never came to pick them up! Me and the girls showed up @ 5:30 for the ceremony. The Gazebo was decorated with vines and flowers and the seating area for the guests were blocked with palm leaves for privacy - very pretty. The ceremony was short and sweet - 10 min long and the photographer was pushy to get the photos taken because the sun was setting quickly. We had 15 photos for free and the remaining photos were $8.00 USD. You do not receive the negatives but instead get a CD with the pictures - the resort has not yet made the changes in their advertisement. The photos were ready 2 days after the wedding and can be picked up at the booth where you can purchase other photos taken at the resort. The photos are glossy and 8x6. I requested sepia tone but got mainly colour photos.

During the short photo session the driver of the carriage was letting other guests use the horse and carriage for some cash. We paid $250.00 USD to use the horse and carriage and we were promised to have a tour of the resort in the carriage but unfortunately it was cut short because it was too dark for the horse to see according to Francellia. So basically, we paid $250.00 USD for 30 min and for other tourists to use...very upsetting!!!

The reception was a big disappointment. Since the ceremony was late , our reception started late. We had our reception at Licey Restaurant and the dinner was 5 courses. The first course was served an hour after we arrived and the wait in between each course was 45 min to an hour. We did not get a chance to eat the last course because it was tooo long so my husband and I started handing out our wedding cake. There were only 2 servers for the entire restaurant including our reception area. The service was terrible but the food was amazing. Our reception was soooo bad that other guests in the restaurant complained to the manager of the poor service that we were getting. To make matters worse, the air conditioning was not working so it was like an oven in there.

Don’t bother getting breakfast in your room the day after the ceremony. The breakfast showed up 45 min late and very cold. I guess they assumed that everyone likes their eggs sunny side up because that is what they delivered to the other people that got married the same week. Definitely make a request of what kind of breakfast you want!!!

We never did receive our keepsakes, and our bathrobes for the week were non-existent. We complained to Francellia Perezz, the wedding co-ordinator and the General Manager of the resort - Federrico Espinall and we were told that there was nothing that he could to compensate for the numerous mistakes that occurred at the wedding and reception. Francellias’ office is by the bank machine (only dispenses pesos) , the door has the word “VENTAS” on it. If you can’t get a hold of her by guest services then go her office. The guest services people usually lie to you!!!

Overall, Francellia did make efforts to make our special day run smoothly but I would advise anyone who wants to get married at the Bavaro Princess Resort, to go to a different resort unless you want an unorganized, disastrous wedding.
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Bavaro PrincessRhonda and Chris - Ontario, Canada
August 2006

A package with wedding info is normally left in your room upon arrival that specifies when your appt with the coordinator is,. Nothing had been left in the groom’s room or mine, so on Sunday we asked about it at Guest Services and they knew nothing about it or about the wedding. The coordinator was not available until Monday and we had to reschedule for that afternoon (we had already booked a group excursion with our guests during the scheduled appt and could not cancel).

We did not receive a king size bed upon arrival, so my husband inquired on Sunday. They said no beds were available (this is part of the honeymoon package) although all the other couples in our group were given king beds. We kept inquiring and were finally given one 3 days later.

We arrived on-time for our appt with the coordinator and waited almost an hour before we had Guest Services finally call and see if she was still coming. She arrived immediately thereafter. She was very pleasant and spoke excellent English. We asked for white and stargazer lilies for the bouquets, ordered two extra bouquets for the bridesmaids ($40 US each) and requested the unedited version of the video ($350, it’s the same price whether you want it edited or not) because we were worried portions would be deleted or that the trio would be edited over with other songs (like previous brides have described in other reviews). We were assured we would get the unedited version and I saw her write it down.

We had requested the Magical Package and were given coupons for the spa appts and for our dinners at Licey. After the meeting, we were told to go pay for the wedding at reception, make the spa appts, and go back to our rooms as they would pick up the tux and dress for steaming at 5 pm. We tried to pay for the wedding, but it had not been charged to our room yet. After making the spa appts, we went back to the room as directed and waited until after 7 pm for our clothes to be picked up, but no one ever came. We finally had to leave because of another appt. (On Wednesday morning, two days later, my husband was woken up by the Laundry dept asking if we wanted our clothes picked up. We were pretty frustrated and didn’t trust giving them our clothes one day before the wedding). The coordinator called after he hung up and asked again. Literally seconds after he hung up after speaking with her, Laundry personnel were knocking on the door. We steamed our own clothes with the travel steamer my mother-in-law brought along.

Thursday was our wedding day. Several of the girls also made spa appts so we ended up with two manicures, three up-dos and my make-up getting done that morning. Our esthetician/stylist was Deyanara and she was lovely. I had brought pictures of how I wanted my hair done, and she did well. My maid-of-honour was able to fix the portions I was unhappy with prior to the wedding. Overall, we were happy with the spa (technically not part of the resort). I had to run back to reception in between appts to finally pay for the wedding (it wasn’t charged to the room until Thursday, and there’s no wedding if you haven’t paid).

The flowers were delivered 30 min before the wedding was scheduled and they were beautiful – exactly what we had asked for (although my groom’s boutonniere was a closed lily that never opened! Oh well, it didn’t matter in the end)

Although we were repeatedly warned the wedding would likely be late, it actually started on time. A decorated trolley picked up my father, my two bridesmaids and myself. It was a pretty fun ride to the gazebo. The guys were also picked up in a decorated trolley.

The decorations they provide consist of candles in red glasses perched on stands wrapped in palm leaves that form the aisle, chairs from Licey (white covers with burgundy bows in the back) for your guests, and two covered tables holding the register, your cake and the champagne. If you want other decorations (like balloons, etc) bring your own. We thought it was perfect the way it was. We brought our own cake topper and dropped it off with the coordinator prior to the wedding.

The ceremony was about 10 minutes long. We brought our own vows and my maid of honour had a short blessing that she read. Unfortunately, the guests were seated too far away to hear anything, but I think they got the gist of it.

We had the Caribbean trio included in our package and they were excellent (they even play a cheese grater with a hair pick). They played a first dance for us and made us try the merengue (very tricky in a wedding dress). My father purchased a CD of theirs.

The photographer took photos during and immediately after the ceremony and he did a good job. They were ready for pick-up on Saturday, which is pretty quick! We bought an additional 20 photos on top of the 25 that were included in the package, and that cost $160 - much cheaper than a “normal” wedding!

We were told the video would be left in our room early the following week. On the following Thursday, I left a message asking about it as we were checking out on Saturday and still had not received the DVD. The call was not returned. I finally contacted the coordinator late Friday morning. The video arrived at Guest Services an hour later and we picked it up that afternoon. We had no way of viewing the video until we returned home, and then found out they had edited it. The Caribbean trio was cut out entirely, my walk down the aisle was cut out, and the music they used to dub it over certainly wasn’t music we selected (Wonderful World and Unchained Melody – not opposed to them, but we had brought our own music for that purpose until we found out we could get the video unedited. We planned to have professionals back home do it for us). In addition, the videographer interviewed my husband’s friends and inserted their well wishes at the end. That would be great, except that none of my friends were interviewed and it’s a lot of “He’s the greatest, I hope she knows how lucky she is” and leaves you feeling a little left out of your own wedding. We immediately sent an email to the coordinator asking to have the unedited version sent to us. That was a week ago and we have not received any response.

We had our wedding dinner at Licey and it was phenomenal. It’s definitely the best restaurant for such an occasion – much more private, air conditioned, and the food was excellent. We had over 15 people, so we had to choose a set menu (the menu given to us earlier by the coordinator was an old one, but we were able to clear that up quickly). The wedding cake was brought to Licey but we had forgotten about it so everyone was pretty full. We ate it anyways and it was delicious.

Overall, the wedding itself was beautiful and our guests had a good time. With that said, we had a few hiccups and felt dissatisfied with several issues. In particular, we had asked for the Magical Package but did not receive the welcome fruit basket or the bathrobes that you are supposed to be given for the duration of your stay. In addition, we did not receive several items from the honeymoon package, namely the fruit basket, bottle of rum, nightly turn down service (we had turn down twice in 9 honeymoon nights), floral bouquet, romantic dinner for bride and groom, special cocktail, and photo souvenir. We did receive the king size bed after several days and also received late check out without any hassle.

We were told the wedding certificate takes approx 6 – 8 weeks and we were not given a photocopy for temporary proof.

All in all, the resort is beautiful and I would highly recommend it. We had a great time at Bavaro Princess and so did our guests. However, even though our wedding was beautiful, I would not recommend this resort for a wedding as there were just too many mistakes that could easily have been avoided.

If you have any questions or would like to see pics, email me at rhonner21@yahoo.ca
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Riu BachataKrystale
February 2006
We stayed at the riu bachata fe10-17. we had a faboulous time, we couldn't ask for anything more. We met with the wedding planner for about 20min the day we arrived. Other than that I just had to show up. it was great and stress free. My wedding website is www.krystaleandedwin.com all of the wedding pictures are there under photos as well as pictures from the resort

defineatly would recommend it. We are going in April to be with friends of our when they get married there
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Riu BachataAngela
March 2006
Nerys was our wedding coordinator, and she is such a lovely person! She couldn't do enough for us. We met with her on Monday to choose all our flowers and extras. The wedding was set for 11am on Wednesday. It's amazing how fast they can pull everything off! On the wedding day, Nerys took everyone up to the Gazebo on the top of the cliff, and then came to get me, my dad and my sister (the maid of honor). We walked down the aisle with the guitar trio playing behind us. Ahhh so beautiful! The ceremony was performed with all our guests surrounding us. We toasted with champagne and cake, and danced our first dance. Then I danced with my dad and the whole thing was more beautiful than I could have imagined. Certainly more beautiful than getting married in the dead of winter in Canada! Our pictures are gorgeous with the ocean and the mountains in the background. I would suggest reading the Sunquest booklet located in the seat pocket of the plane on your flight to Peurto Plata. I read that Sunquest offers free weddings at the Riu Bachata if you stay 7 nights. Sunquest did not advise us of this when we booked the trip. The hotel honored the freebie because I kept the book as proof. We saved ourselves $1,000.00 US because of that. What a relief. So essentially the only thing we paid for were the extra flowers and guitar trio which came out to $340.00US.

Getting married in the D.R. is the best decision we could have made. The memories will last a lifetime! Thank you to all the staff at the 3 Riu's who made us feel like Superstars the entire 2 weeks we were there!
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Riu BachataKrystale and Edwin, Nova Scotia
March 2006

All our photos and information are available on our website www.krystaleandedwin.com. Our wedding was perfect and I mean perfect. We had the royal treatment as soon as we arrived. Ocean view rooms with king size beds, marble floors, marble walls in bathroom, cherrywood accents. We were very pleased. We met with the wedding planner two days before the wedding. I picked my flowers, declined the 150$ for a three piece music act, or extra photos. 24 'ceremony pictures were alloted. I did buy one thing extra two flowers for our mothers. That was all I really had to do, oh and pay 100us government fee which was originally 300 so I can't complain. They made me a beautiful cascading bouquet of flowers, as well as 10 matching centerpieces for our resteraunt dinner. They used these flowers also to make an archway in the back of our table for the ceremony. The day before and that morning it was raining heavily. I had heard one couple cancelled their wedding the day before, but not me. I had a rain poncho on over my dress ready to go. Just as we walked outside it stopped raining and the sun came out it was beautiful. They had already moved things inside so we went with it. They had all our guests line p to make an ailse for us to walk through. The 20 or so foot door were on a trigger and opened automatically to reveal us to them. There is alot of kissing in this spanish ceremony, probably ten or so. My wedding planner was amazing and she was also our translator. The photographer took alot of nice pictures which we got to pick from at the photolab. I had all my pictures back and my marriage licence before we left 1 1/2 days later. The wedding planner stopped the bus as we were leaving to give us the licence instead of mailing it.

I guess you get what you pay for we had been previously booked at breezes in peurto plata but they somehow cancelled our reservation and our group was too large to rebook. The Riu bachata was the more expensive of the three RIU resorts but it was well worth it. We have plans to return on our honeymoon next year with another couple who wants to get married there.

Just remember there is no such thing as a free wedding, there is about 1000$ minimum in fees, somethings are not included like getting you hair done, flowers for attendants,and extra photos can cost big money. take you own pictures as well as theirs, and just try to exhibit their laid back culture on you wedding day. Mine was absolutely stress free, wouldn't have changed it for the world.
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Riu Mambo Sarah & Chris, Ontario
January 2004

Preparing for the Wedding
I started researching on the Internet the reviews of other brides (this website was one of the best!) and wedding packages from various resorts. I wasn't concerned with the wedding package costing us extra (some resorts offer them for free but cost more to go to) as long as our guests didn't have to pay too much. I talked to our local travel agent and she sent me her recommendations for Mexico, Cuba and Dominican Republic. She also had us immediately apply for our long-form birth certificates. We chose the Dominican Republic because we have traveled to Mexico and Cuba before so were excited to go somewhere new and the prices were very reasonable. We chose the Riu Mambo in Puerto Plata because there are two sister resorts next door where you can enjoy all of their restaurants and activities. It is so stress free to marry in the Dominican. We only have to do the following: Long-form birth certificate (apply early because there is no guarantee of how long it could take), declaration of single status - have birth certificates and single status declarations translated into Spanish, send out invites, and show up! I believe that if you've been previously married there is more documentation needed.

I informed the travel agent of our choice of resort and the dates (January 18-25) and she immediately got our group rates and created a package for me to send with my "Save the Date" letters. I also printed some colour pictures of the Riu Mambo and of the Dominican from the Internet to include with my Save the Date letter. I wanted to excite my guests with the beautiful colours of the Dominican. Once I knew who was booked (the travel agent always kept me updated on who had put down deposits), I sent out an envelope with Travel Tips, Web sites to check out (this one included), and info on the Dominican Republic. Just wanted to keep everyone excited!

Arriving in Puerto Plata
Well finally the day arrived for us to fly to Puerto Plata. The flight went very well - a bit of turbulence but nothing major. Bring snacks for the flight because it's a long day of traveling and they don't serve much on the flight. Everyone (especially those regular travelers) were so impressed with the arrival at the Puerto Plata airport. We were off the plane, had our luggage and on the bus within 20 mins. Hardly any lines to wait in.

The Resort
We arrived at the Riu Mambo for our one week vacation/wedding/honeymoon and everyone was oohing and aahing at all the tropical plants, huge rock formations, and rolling hills surrounding the RIU property. It was great having the three resorts to use. It provided so many varieties of food, activities, people, and shops. Caribbean Street is a beautiful little street lined with brightly coloured shops. They had an Internet Cafe, many souvenir shops (didn't barter much), Photo Shop, Billiards Room, Spa, Fitness Room (very modern equipment), a couple of high end jewellery shops, and Cigar store. The casino is also located there.

If you didn't feel like shopping there , there are beach vendors at the Riu Mambo and Riu Bachata (ends of the beach). They are little blue huts with local people selling their wares. Bartering there is necessary or you will be ripped off. A good rule is to split their price in half -at least. Everyone bought some really neat stuff for good prices. They have pareos, wooden carvings, stone carvings, multitudes of jewellery, canvas paintings, etc. So much to look at.

The food at the RIU's was wonderful. So many varieties. Seafood, pasta, salads, pork, veal, chicken, beef. My only 'beef' about the food is that most of it is fried. It was still very delicious but slightly greasy at times. It didn't stop me from eating lots and lots.

Being with a group of 31 we went on a few more excursions then we normally would. A bunch of people did the Deep Sea Fishing - didn't catch anything but still enjoyed the experience, a bunch of us went on the Puerto Plata City Tour/Sousa -Rum factory & Amber museum included, Paradise Island Snorkeling tour, and a few went to Ocean World Adventure Parkto swim with the dolphins. I haven't heard a bad word from anyone about any of the tours. Everyone was pleased. Some tours we did through the tour operator and others we did with Martin Espinal (he's got a link from this site I believe) the taxi driver. Enrique and Danny were our guides for the taxi tours. They were so incredible. They brought drinks along, gave us a Spanish lesson and made everything so fun. They work for Martin and I highly recommend them.

We had good weather for the week that we were there. There was one day of rain but we still swam most of the day and enjoyed ourselves. If you can't stay dry you might as well stay wet! Even at night the weather was warm. On a previous trip to Cuba I would wear jeans and a sweater at night but not on this trip.

The Wedding
We met with our Wedding Coordinator , Juana, on the Monday after we arrived. She showed us a photo album with pictures of flowers for us to choose from. I wanted brightly coloured flowers with lots of greenery. She also went through the list of extras that aren't included with the wedding package to see want else we might want. We hired the musicians (They are incredible and look so good in the pictures) and bought some extra bouquets, and boutonnieres. We then paid her and went back to the beach. What stressful planning!

Our Wedding took place on Thursday January 22, 2004 at 3pm. I spent the morning at the Spa (wedding present from some great friends), every bride should do this. They are so incredible at the Caribbean Street Spa. Afterwards I had my hair done at the local hairdresser along with my bridesmaids then back to our Honeymoon suite to get dressed and wait. As warned, the wedding didn't start on time :) Our wedding coordinator, Juana, told us to wait in our room and she would call us when everyone was in place. Due to a wedding at the Merengue, the Judge and Photographer were running late. No big deal, we just sat and enjoyed some Bahama Mamas (My favourite drink all week). We finally got the call that everything was a go so the flower girl, bridesmaids, my father and I headed down the path to the gazebo. We arrived at the gazebo (Beautifully decorated with the flowers I had chosen) and my father handed me over to my fiancee. The musicians were playing their guitars and they really set the mood. We walked up the path formed by our guests, and stood inside the gazebo with our wedding party. The judge then performed with ceremony with Juana translating. There was a little mix up with the name of my fiancee (They asked if I would marry his father) which got many chuckles when I said no I would not marry him. Everything got straightened out and Chris & I were married. It was a quick ceremony but with the hot sun it was okay with us! We walked down the path while our guests through rice and blew bubbles at us. We then danced our first dance as Husband & Wife and then posed for multitudes of pictures. Most people (included Chris & I) changed and headed to the beach to cool off and then changed back into our wedding attire for the supper. We had our supper at the Steakhouse. They had brought all the flowers from the gazebo to line the tables, it looked wonderful. We all enjoyed some fabulous supper, toasts, champagne, and wedding cake. It was a wonderful day. Later after supper, the flowers were delivered to our hotel room as well as a fax from our Travel Agent hoping all had gone well. She also mentioned that it had been -32 degrees that day at home.

Our pictures were ready to be looked at by the next day (all digital) and we picked out our favourites. We picked them up the next day (Saturday) along with a disk to make copies and enlargements in Canada. Our marriage certificate (in Spanish) was also available to be picked up Saturday. I haven't had any troubles changing my name over using the Spanish certificate. I had worried I would have to have it translated and certified in Canada but I worried for nothing as I've had no problems.

Conclusion
All 31 of our group were pleased with the Riu Mambo and the two sister resorts. That's saying a lot too because our group had age 5 to 82 -quite the range of interests. The rooms were spacious and nice, shows interesting and full of talent, food delicious with lots of selection, beach was rock-free and always raked clean, beautiful mountains surrounding the property and the grounds were all so immaculately cared for. The wedding was everything I imagined and more. It was so beautiful and so stress-free. It's defiantly the way to go. All in all it was a perfect week.
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