Dreams Punta Cana Brides

Lol, Jenise you are too funny, it was Baja Fresh and I swear I got about 2 bites of food, bc I had to keep greeting people and making sure everyone got some attention I was so hungry too LOL

Erin: She would love to come to Cincinnati, if you want her information let me know, even if it just to communicate about cost efficient ways to throw something nice. She said she got the chair sashes for the shower for .60 cents a piece and I haven't seen any that low anywhere so I know she can find some good deals!

ok....so now I guess I'm like some of the other brides here that got their deposit taken out of their account without so much as a notice. Luckily, I had money in there to cover the $500 because if not, there would be hell to pay! Did anyone ever get an explaination on why you didn't get a heads up? Considering that I confirmed my date last November, I thought for sure they would just wait til I got there to pay everything in full.

Just a thought to those that have had the deposit taken out already...I'd def print out a copy of the statement and bring it with you in case they try to claim that they never charged it. Just a good idea to have everything in writing. Ok, I think that's all for my venting. Thanks ladies.

Hey Jenise, I know that Carolina told me that accounting is "really behind" charging the deposits for the weddings. They seemed kind of disorganized and I know we have discuss this already in the forum as many brides got their deposit take out without any notice.Mine hasn't been charged yet..I will def. print everything and bring it with me just in case.

i'm surprised they're still being crazy with the deposits. i never got charged mine, but maybe that's because i did the free package? it seems like the ones they been actually charging are for the ultimate package (that's the $500 deposit, right?).

misty, i may actually ask for her contact information in the next few weeks. we're trying to keep our AHR casual, but we want it to have some flair and pizazz too!!

Erin, I was charged my $100 deposit like a week after I booked... but it wasn't a huge deal, since it goes towards the add-ons anyway I asked you about the bank machine because I get paid while I'm down there and if I needed it the extra cash would be nice! hehe

Hello Ladies!

Just like the other ladies mentioned, this forum is great! I'm a newbie too and caught up on all the threads previous to this one! I'm really glad I found this site! Too bad it wasn't sooner! FYI, this post will be very long as I'm updating everyone as to where i am at my planning, just as kindly as all of you have throughout! =)

So I just got back from PC as I wanted to see all the resorts that were in contention for our wedding. We visited DPB, DPC, Sanctuary Capcana and Excellence. We chose DPC as it was beautiful and a good value for your money compared to the others.

We met with Deyanira and put also a downpayment of $500 to secure our ceremony location (gazebo), cocktail hour (either Bordeaux or Terrace) and the reception (same location as cocktail hour). We are inviting 170 guests and we are estimating 70 people actually coming. We figured we wouldn't cut the guest list and just invite everyone we would've invited if we had it in NYC. So now I'm going to break up the parts that I have finalized or am thinking of doing.

Invitations:[/b

I am currently having my STD being done by Sarah Sprouilles. They are so good! We are waiting on them to be finalized and those will go out in October. Our wedding is November 2011. Then we will send out the invites in January to have folks start booking if they want. We will be telling guests to book by August 1 as I want to make sure they get a room. I would hate for there not to be rooms available if they book too late. We will also be giving Deyanira our guest list so that she makes sure no one is bumped to a sister resort if they do get booked! Hopefully this won't be a problem! We are also creating a website for our guests since we have some in Peru and Poland that are coming in, so I don't want them to have to RSVP via mail if they don't have to. But the website will have all the information possible that they will need to have a smooth trip!

DJ:

I saw that you can get a DJ for $300 with the Ultimate package, but unfortunately the DJ does not MC. I wanted an MC, so I looked around and found great reviews for a DJ called DJ Mannia! He's $850 for 4 hours and requires a 50% downpayment when booking. So we booked him for our date! YAY!

Flowers

I looked at the flowers that they offered, but I forgot to ask WC if they are the ones that are included in the package...need to check on that. I liked a few of them, but worse case, I'll just get a sample bouquet done here and then send Deyanira a picture so she can replicate. I'm sure it'll be an extra cost. I'll do the same for the BM and GM.

Centerpieces

I didn't see any pictures of what they offered for centerpieces. Do you ladies have any? I do have an idea of what I would like (submerged flowers with an invisible candle floating on top) so I need to check with Deyanira how much this would cost as I really don't want to lug anything from the states unless i really have to! (except my dress of course!) =)

Extras

I also was looking at what extras DPC offers and we decided on getting a cigar roller for the cocktail hour. Along with this, I have also asked Deyanira if it was possible to get a drink Luge and/or an ice sculptor. (Haven't heard back yet, but will keep you posted). We also looked into getting fireworks, but that was pretty expensive ($3,000 for 5 minutes). When i saw where they shot them from (your guests had to walk to the lobby to view them) I didn't want to be that inconvenient and didn't think it was worth it for that much money! We will be having a Welcome Dinner the night before at the Barefoot Grill on the Beach. We are paying extra for that since we are renting the space out. (don't know the cost yet as we haven't picked the menu yet). But during this time, we will have the fire dancers come out and also we are looking to hire the spider monkey they have on the property as a surprise for our guests to take pictures with it if they want. We will also be having a picture reel for like 10 minutes. thought it would be a cute added touch to the Welcome dinner. I had to rent the projector and screen for that.

Linen;

I was able to see the swatches of what they offered for the linen. Luckily they had my colors (Chocolate Brown and Tiffany Blue). SO I don't have to worry about spending extra money for special orders. So I will just be paying extra for the bows for the chairs. Too bad we can't reuse the same bows from the ceremony for the reception....=( I'll also be decorating the gazbo with flowers, which will cost extra! =( Got to figure out how I will be decorating the tables....i can't find any pictures with those colors for the reception!

Photographer:

After reading all your posts. I too think that the photog was way too expensive for what you received. So I may hire that Williams (?) guy you girls suggested earlier who lives in PC and then I'll just use the free photographer for the 50 pictures and that's it. I really want to have pictures taken before, during and after and also wanted video of our wedding!

Reception/Cocktail Hour

As for cocktail hour. I would really like a Signature drink added, so I'm trying to think of something dominican....still thinking.... For our reception, i was trying to think of what to leave as gifts for our guests on the table. I can't think of anything that they would probably end up throwing away! Any thoughts? I was looking at something Dominican too so that they can remember the wedding, but also kinda useful! An idea for you ladies. In DR, there is this instrument called a guira. I am planning on putting those on the tables and having guests use that in place of clinking glasses when they want us to kiss! Maybe they can take those as souvenirs

I think I covered all the areas that I have planned and finalized! I can't wait to get more inspiration from everyone on this forum! Really glad I found it!

E-mail me of you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer them!

Thanks girls for all the insight you offered to me. I hope i was able to return the favor!

Ska Ska

Toya I agree at 100%... bring your statement so they don't try to take it twice!

And welcome to Ska ska!!

Hi Ska Ska , welcome to the forum, you have got alot of things finalized and done way to go. I was looking thru all my papers and emails and couldn't find how much the cigar roller cost, we are getting that too how much did Deyanira say it would cost ?

Thanks everyone for your welcome!

The cigar roller that I was quoted was 50 cigars for $350, each additional cigar is $5.00 a piece. I believe that was also for a 2 hour duration. But this is also another cost i would be verifying with Deyanira closer to my wedding....