Paradisus Palma Real Wedding Review Part 1

MrsTrussell2B · 07-30-2008, 07:39 AM

Ok I will try not to ramble because i have sooo much to say but Im still in a fog so hopefully I wont forget anything. So we arrived on Friday July 18th. Wait let me back up. I had planned to make my own centerpieces but the night before we were leaving we were finishing them and i HATED them. They looked so juvenile! So i hopped on the compute and sent my WC here (one of the friends) and Vivanna an email saying that we did not have centerpieces and would need to pick out something there. So we arrived at the hotel. We were told by several tourist and locals that PPR is considered one of the best hotels on the island and i see why! It is beautiful. There were 38 of us and I didnt hear one complaint. People did have problems with there rooms but the hotel was very accomidating and fixed the problems. For example my aunt had plumbing issues that they tried to fix 3 times. For the inconvience the manager provided a complimentary dinner for 5 of us at Gabi Beach restaurant. This was the only restaurant at the hotel that wasnt a part of the all-inlcusive. (Side note: it was good but if i went back i wouldnt pay for it because the included restaraunts were just as good!) Anyway so when we arrived they upgraded us to the MBR suite, the room was beautiful. After settling in check-in was smooth (our room wasnt ready but we were ready). So we went to the buffet. The buffet is WONDERFUL i have absolutely no compliants about the food (fresh fruit, made to order steaks, lobster, cheese, bread, etc) . the service is top notch (anything you ask for they provide). Anyway we were not suppossed to meet with Vivianna until Saturday but i was worried about the centerpieces so we popped in. she didnt make me feel as if i was disturbing her so i was happy about that. We talked briefly and agreed that on Saturday she would show us a few centerpiece options since the wedding was on Monday. We met on Saturday and i told her that I was over budget so i needed inexpensive centerpieces. She showed me the colored water with a lily (i think) floating in it. That worked for me. at the time i thought oh well that is better than nothing but when i saw it the day of the wedding i was pleseantly surprised at how perfect it was. Anyway Viviana walked us around showing us where we would have the ceremony (on the beach), cocktail hour (terrace of Gabi Beach) and reception (on Gabi beach). She also showed us the options for if it rained. I liked the rain option for the ceremony (because the hotel has many open air places we would have been covered from the rain but still outside) but I didnt like the option for the reception. It was just a cramped ballroom. luckily it didnt matter because we had beautiful weather the entire time we were there. Saturday night Kevin and I had dinner in Passions. It was very good and romantic. Later we had the meet and greet in the lobby bar (nice!) and did our girls night out and guys night out. The disco is OK. some times the music is great and other times it just makes you laugh but we made the best of it. On Sunday we had the rehearsal with Carolina. I had a meltdown and a few tears (not sure why I think Kevin and I were just both nervous so we were awkward to each other. after my meltdown the rehearsal went fine! That night we had dinner in Bana with about 18 of our guests (the wedding party plus family). Because of the size of our party we had to do a family style dinner and the waiters said we could have unlimited food! I thought some of the dishes were good others were just ok. Stay tuned i will right Part 2 later today.

MrsTrussell2B · 07-30-2008, 07:40 AM

PS if u want to see some of the pics go to Juan Guzman-Wedding Photographer in Dominican Republic and click on Carla and Kevin

DanielleNDerek · 07-30-2008, 09:45 AM

like the review can't wait for part 2.

My one question is did you pay for your rehearsal dinner? I'm debating on having one or not but i really don't feel like paying for it.

foxytv · 07-30-2008, 10:05 AM

Great pictures! Juan does a very nice job! What does he charge? We honeymooned at PPR and LOVED it! It was great to look at pics of your wedding and have the memories of our time there resurface!

MrsTrussell2B · 07-30-2008, 11:07 AM

Juan was very reasonable. I need to find the link to his blog/website that has the prices. I am sooo glad i used him. he made me comfortable and i felt beautiful

MrsTrussell2B · 07-30-2008, 11:13 AM

Danielle we did not pay for the rehersal dinner. Vivianna (or maybe Kelly at the time) made us reservations initially at Vento but because everyone wanted to come our party was too large for Vento and they couldnt accomidate us. So thats why she changed it to Bana. I loved the fact that it was included. I couldnt fit it in our budget to pay for a seperate one and we really didnt need it. Because it would have been tooo much like the wedding reception.

DanielleNDerek · 07-30-2008, 11:34 AM

thanks for the info Carla. I'm on the fence about even having a rehearsal dinner. I would like just to have our immediate families at dinner before the wedding, but i wasn't going to do it if i had to pay for it. I'll have to talk to Vivianna see if she can make me reservations at on of the restaurants for it.

limon_b · 07-30-2008, 12:25 PM

Thanks for the info. I am unsure how to do the welcome/rehearsal dinner also.
I think we will just make reservations at a resturant also.

Do you guys ever feel that you are leaving something out? It could just be my day to freak out, but today I am thinking I have not organized enough. I know, I should just chill, they do weddings everyday, but my analytical brain thinks I need to know exactly how everything flows.

Or I am hungry and just need to eat

MrsTrussell2B · 08-05-2008, 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanielleNDerek

thanks for the info Carla. I'm on the fence about even having a rehearsal dinner. I would like just to have our immediate families at dinner before the wedding, but i wasn't going to do it if i had to pay for it. I'll have to talk to Vivianna see if she can make me reservations at on of the restaurants for it.

I only wanted immediate family and the wedding party at the rehearsal dinner but people kept asking if they could come. Since i didnt have to pay for it i felt bad saying no so in the end almost all of our guest came to the dinner. It worked out fine and I would not have had it any other way. Vivianna had no problems making (and changing our reservations) the only limit you will have is the size of your party. Passions definitely is for a small group. We never made it to Vento and for Bana because our party was so large we had to do family style. But no matter where you end up i think you will like it. Plus you start to think how even the food at the buffett is wonderful so you wont want to pay for a private event. Oh BTW we were the only people in our section of Bana so it seemed semi-private!!!

MrsTrussell2B · 08-05-2008, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by limon_b

Thanks for the info. I am unsure how to do the welcome/rehearsal dinner also.
I think we will just make reservations at a resturant also.

Do you guys ever feel that you are leaving something out? It could just be my day to freak out, but today I am thinking I have not organized enough. I know, I should just chill, they do weddings everyday, but my analytical brain thinks I need to know exactly how everything flows.

Or I am hungry and just need to eat

I had a lot of days like that!!! so you are not alone. What finally got me on track is when a co-worker gave me a list of everything i needed to do and she gave me deadlines. I walked around with that list for weeks checking things off