With soooo many resorts in the DR....

[baileybutton]

With so many beautiful resorts in the DR, how did you choose the one to be married in? I'm a bit overwhelmed with all the choices! lol What factors did you consider? How did you choose?

 

Thanks for the advice!

[baileybutton]

Also, I will absolutly consider any suggestions you may have as well I want to note-price does matter for my family and friends!

[Anna22]

My wedding is at the paradisus palma real punta cana.

 

1st thing I had to consider was the cost to my guests

I knew if I wanted a huge wedding, most people couldn't afford the palma real but becuase I wanted a small wedding so the palma real was perfect.  (tho, there are still some people who can't make it becuae of cost)

 

2nd  I considered the cost to me and my fiance.  Each hotel offers really differnt packages.  Some of them practally give you a free wedding dinner/reception for up to 20 ppl.  But we have close to 100 so it's not easily accomodated.  At some resorts (Palma Real Included) are all inclusive, you still havd to pay bascially for everything. So taking into consideration staying in budget was a huge factor. 

 

3rd.  Flight time was and Flight cost - if people can only make it for three days, I didnt want them spending two of their three days on a flight!  So, we picked the D.R. becasuse it's only 4 hrs. from NY.  We also didnt want them to pay an arm and a leg for their flight (but that didnt exactly work)

 

>>If I think of anything else, I'll come back and post! 

 

HAPPY PLANNING!

[islandbride8]

Choosing a resort was by far the most difficult decision I've made since deciding on a DW.  Price was a really big factor for us as well.  What i did was go to the apple vacations website and run a search for resorts in Punta Cana.  i narrowed it down to 6-7 resorts based on the apple rating and price.  Next i started looking at hotel amenities, ceremony locations, wedding packages, ect and narrowed our choices down to Majestic Elegance, Dreams and Excellence.  I really wanted an adult only resort, but were planning on inviting people with children and didn't want to limit their travel options.  Since Majesitc Elegance offers the Elegance Club, which is a section of the hotel that is adult only.  it has seperate restaurants, bars, pools and beach so we can have the adult only feel without excluding some guests.  it's definately a hard, and personal decision, but after you decide on your resort the rest just starts to fall into place (okay okay it's not all a fairytale, but you will have a sense of direction after you pick a resort and the planning becomes a little easier).  Good Luck!!!  

[lesee]

Hi Baileybutton

 

I just got back from the PPR today actually and the wedding was amazing.

 

How we decided.

 

1. we had a travel price point in mind. We wanted the biggest bang for our buck - and PPR happened to fall into our budget. But it was only after a lot of research of all the resorts available for our budget - we decided on the PPR

 

2. wedding packages - because our guestlist was so small the packages at PPR worked for us - we chose the chill out chic package

 

3. since we had guests from vancouver and edmonton coming, we wanted to make sure everyone arrived on the same day and left on the same day. All flights from the main western canadian cities are direct so there was no issue there.

 

4. kids eat and stay free (under a certain age) - this was an absolute MUST - however the flight cost for all the kids was very expensive and broke my heart that my sisters had to pay so much for them to come.

 

5. a good variety of a la carte restaurants

 

6. watersports and plenty of other activities included in the travel package

 

I think those were the main factors - however...we do feel that perhaps we weren't given the same level of service from the romance department as we were having such a small wedding as someone spending $$ and having a larger wedding. it was mostly small stuff, and really i didn't sweat it too much.  Also - this is a personal preference for me.....I'd come prepared to do your own makeup unless you are bringing someone with you. I opted to have one of the girls at the spa to do the makeup as it was included in the package - let's just say that when I got back to my room and saw my face in good light I had a mini nuclear meltdown. I came prepared and thank goodness I had 2 hours before the ceremony to wash and redo everything.

[lesee]

I forgot to mention that the resort itself was gorgeous. You and your guests won't be disappointed if you do choose this resort.

We had got a little grief about the cost, etc but as soon as everyone stepped inside the resort the mouths shut pretty quickly.

 

[baileybutton]

Congratulations Lesee on your wedding!

 

Thanks Islandbride8 and Anna22!!

 

I pretty sure our wedding is going to be a small one maybe 10-15 people. FI has a large family but there are defenitly financial limitations on his side. I didn't think of kids staying and eating free, I will add that into my list of must haves. I have a few people on my "probably going to come list" That have younger children (under 6).  I'm pretty sure all flights out of Atlantic Canada are are direct and I think its about a 4 hour flight (maybe 3 hours). I have only seen "7 night-8 day" all inclusive deals I didn't even know there was an option for a 3 day...

 

 

[lesee]

Hi Bailey

 

I don't think Canadian carriers give a 3 day option. We wanted to stay for 10 or 12 days but there were only 7 or 14 packages available - at least from air transat or sunwing.

[baileybutton]

I have only heard of the 7 and 14. A friend of mine had a DW in the DR and her and her new hubby stayed 14-everyone else left after 7 days.

[swojdyla]

I have been researching a DW for about 6 months and at this point I'm just obsessed and frustrated with it! I can't get over the fact that some of these resorts like PPR charge 70 to 100 dollars per person when they are an all-inclusive!!! I love the PPR so much but what if I have like 50 people show up...that would take up my whole budget just to feed them at an all inclusive! And to stay at the hotel is not cheap at all for the guests. So it kinda makes me feel like the PPR is taking advantage of you. know what i mean? Also the not knowing what the airfare will be like and not knowing how many people will actually come is what is driving me crazy! With fuel going up so much in cost I feel like by the time my wedding comes next year I it will be so expensive!! Sometimes it all makes me want to cry!