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Barcelo Bavaro Beach — 5 Bavaro Princess — 5 Barcelo Punta Cana — 3 Coral Hamaca — 1 Grand Bahia Principe Bavaro/Punta Cana — 15 Grand Paradise Bavaro — 2 Ocean Blue/Sand — 1 Paradisus — 1 |
Paradisus Palma Real — 5 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 — 1 |
| Viva Wyndham Playa Dorada | Nadia |
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 |
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.
| Barcelo Punta Cana | Terri |
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.
| Barcelo Punta Cana | Carrie and Bryan |
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 |
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!
| Riu Palace Macao | Katie & Pat ~ Ontario, Canada |
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
| Riu Palace Macao | Helen |
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 Macao | Crystal & Curtis |
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 |
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 Beach | Sarah and Bruno |
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!
| Barcelo Bavaro Beach | Shannon & Mark ~ Canada |
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!
| Barcelo Bavaro Beach | Annie and Paul |
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 Beach | Sarah and Darren ~ Northants, England |
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 Beach | Martine |
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 | Calli |
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 |
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!!!
| Paradisus Palma Real | Callie ~ Texas |
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.
| Paradisus Palma Real | Carol ~ Brooklyn, NY |
| Paradisus Palma Real | Lisa |
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 | Tiffany |
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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| Ocean Blue/Sand | Andrea and Mark |
Getting married in DR? Ocean Blue is the place in Punta Cana. I would recommend anyone thinking of having a wedding in Punta Cana to go here. Everything was absolutely perfect. Food is great, as well as service. Wellington took good care of my parents throughout their stay. Ana, the wedding coordinator, took care of everything we wanted and more. We had 21 friends and family members join us for our special day. Not a single person had any complaints whatsoever!!!! I spoke with Ana back and forth on e-mail for about 4 months. She is wonderful!!! When we got there, she greeted us with a warm smile and hug and took us off in the golf cart to show us all the venues ect. and then and We had a Lobster dinner the night before the wedding at the Bucanero Seafood restaurant (out on the beach). We got a musical trio that went to each table a sang between everyone giving toast. Beautiful!!!! Perfect!!! Ana was there to make sure everything was as planned. The day of the wedding, Ana placed the flowers, flower girl basket with petals, ect. on the bed in our room. It was so neat watching the decorations going up on the beach throughout the day. These people really know what they are doing. All the friends and family waited at La Brasa with drink in hand before being seated on the beach. My Dad and I waited in the room for Ana to pick us up in the golf cart. The judge was 30 minutes late, however not a big deal at all because I already was aware of this and told everyone. We watched from the balcony as the judge arrived. Ana was then on her way to whisk us off to the red carpet. We had nephews and a son escort the mothers while others were already seated. Then my father and I along with a beautiful flower girl stepped foot on the beach. Ana even helped my niece with her long walk throwing flower petals. We had the saxophone and piano play "here comes the bride." I was not sure if they knew the song or not, and did not have any idea what they were going to play!!! Everyone on the beach stopped and starred. I mean everyone!!! The photographer at the resort was great!!! Took pictures during the ceremony and at the water's edge. While taking pictures at the water, we were greeted by 3 friendly dogs that we have in some of our pictures!!! Everyone then met us at the terrace at La Brasa for champagne and cake. Cake was wonderful!!! Champagne went down pretty good to!!! The saxophone and piano player (usually play in the lobby every night) moved over to the terrace. They are great!!!!!! Recording a CD sometime this week. Worth the money ($175 per hour). Ana even arranged for a CD player so we could play our song. We had everyone on the other side of the terrace looking on with smiles. Then we had a dinner at La Brasa.
All in all this was better than my wildest dreams. Ana will ease all your worries when you arrive. Just come and enjoy a stress-free wedding. It is very hard planning a wedding over the Internet, but do not worry. Ana will take care of everything. I did a lot of research before about the bands, restaurants, ect. This is the way to go if you are thinking of marrying in the DR. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to e-mail me at willisandrea@yahoo.com. I can send pictures of the ceremony, flowers, cake, Restaurants, etc.
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| Coral Hamaca | Shalaina |
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 Mar | Julie |
| Sunscape Casa Del Mar | Krista and Paul |
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 |
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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| Paradisus | Elena and Abby & Carl from Bethlehem, PA |
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 prepa