Boston Bride 2009

It is adults only. You can not have children even for the ceremony. If folks stay at another hotel they will have to pay $80 for a day pass to come to your wedding. Strawberry, I'm not sure what others have done but I'm bringing my centerpieces with me with a TON of candles. I know the hotel said they have candles but I don't know what they look like or how much they cost. Again don't know what others have done for the tables but I'll either just show mercy and Ana what I want or take a picture and give it to them. I'm sure they will make it look AMAZING!!! I do have Pastor York scheduled for our ceremony. There is a thread on here about him. All very good feedback.

I didn't have quite the same scenario but my experience might be helpful. My wedding is November 27th 2009 and I had about 20 guests put a deposit for their rooms in January and this locked in their rate. Well, now the hotel is having a sale and the rooms are 35-40% off. Because I saw the rates and have an ok TA we were able to rebook all of the rooms for the lower rate and some people are saving hundreds of dollars and others just upgraded their rooms. The process to re-book was very time consuming and we really had to press the hotel to get the rates. One thing I will say is book your flight as soon as the rates become available. When our flights first came out they were $426 and the same flight now is over $1000. I will say that if you book a direct flight early it may be split up. 2 of ours were. Hope this helps.

You were right....I didn't realize, sorry. I'm going to go with your strategy!

I read to the end and didn't see it...must have missed it. Either way I just called UPS to find out in detail what it entails. Their regular priced shipping option gets to Santo Domingo in 6 days. There are some limitations on what you can ship and what will get through customs....HOWEVER it costs $248 to ship a box of towels from boston to DR which is double what I paid for the towels....needless to say we are brining everything with us on the plane!

Thank you! What I did read on line is that they are very lax. When I went in October to see Excellence I honestly don't remember doing anything. I just want to be sure before I decide to haul everything there. We do have the option of sending items to his family in Santo Domingo. Just debating on what is best.

I was reading yesterday on a different thread about the rules for getting items through customs however most of the brides were going to Mexico. I searched the threads and couldn't find anything specific to DR. What has been your experience in getting through customs with everything for your wedding? Did you need reciepts? I also googled this and couldn't come up with anything other than you are allowed 1 bottle of liquor 200 cigarettes and a gift with value of less than $100. Thanks for your help!

Michelle, Sorry to ask you a million questions. You mentioned you had a minister. Was that person a religous minister? When I asked Ana told me I only had the option of a non-religous ceremony. We don't need it to be legal (we did that here) but we wanted a religous leader to over see our ceremony. Right now we have hired Pastor York because we thought that was our only choice. Thank you for all of your help!!!

Your wedding was beautiful. Thank you for writing the review. Every piece of information you recent brides post is helpful. 3 months can't by go fast enough.

[email protected] is Mercy's email

staceysbride, Not sure if you are getting married at Excellence but the hotel sent me the photographers rates. We are brining our own photographer but I think she is just going to do everything.

Ok, Michelle....one more question. So sorry. How long was your reception? I had mentioned that the hotel wants to charge extra money for me to have a 4 hour reception verses a 3 hour. I didn't know you experienced the same thing. Thank you soo so much for your help.

Michelle, Sorry one more question. I noticed you had blue napkins did you bring those with you? If so where did you buy them? I want to add a little color to the table and I thought that was an easy thing to do. Thanks, Debbie

Michelle, That helps. Thanks for your explanation.

nbulldog19, I had written to Ana specifically and Mercy responded to my questions for Ana and at that point introduced herself and informed me that she would be working on my wedding. When I wrote back I said something to the effect of does this mean Ana isn't working with me anymore and she didn't respond to that piece of my email Has anyone worked with Mercy? So far so good she has answered all of my questions quickly so far. I'm just not to happy about the extra cost to extend our reception from 3 hours to 4 hours. Debbie

I think I have had the same experience as most. My TA owns her own business and takes leads from Destination weddings. I think that is part of the inconsistency. Our TA is very nice and I like her as a person but I don't think she has done the best job. She forgets to email people quotes, their invoices, lost a persons phone number and didn't call her. I've had to ask her several times to do things. She has not tried to find us the best prices...I've found them all. I like doing research so that doesn't bother me but some people I'm sure would be annoyed. I also found out that the hotel is selling the rooms at 40% off right now and asked if we could get the discount and she has been very helpful in making this happen but I had to approach her. She is on the west coast and I am in Boston so I actually find the time difference helpful. I just hate to hear from my guests that they were upset with things and it's been 4 or 5 people. I'm sure in the end things will be great it's just a little bumpy getting there.

Amber and Erin, How long was your reception? I just spoke with Mercy (who I guess is now handling my wedding instead of Ana) said to have a 4 hour reception we have to pay $6 per person up to 30 people and $8 per person over $30. Has anyone else heard this? Did you girls use the dj at all? Also, Erin I noticed you have blue napkins. Did you bring those with you?

I am getting married at Excellence and the service has been wonderful. I went last October to meet with the Wedding Coordinator and it felt like I had known her for a long time...like one of my friends. She has been great handling my millions of questions and sending me picutres. There is an Excellence thread where several girls have written reviews and they are wonderful. Also, there is only 1 wedding a day.

Thank you both so much for posting your pictures. They are beautiful and really help me see how everything is set up.

I'm just getting to posting here...I've been following the thread about my resort...just ventured out... We are getting married on November 27th in Punta Cana at the Excellence Resort I hate to say this but I'm super organized...and my husband (we just got legally married here) won't let me procrastinate. He was the kid that had his paper done in college 3 weeks ahead and had it proof read 3 times.....funny... Anyway here is what I've done Visited the resort last October and set the date Sent Save the Dates last November Began working with a TA in November Made/Sent Invitations in April Dress purchased in January and is in Purchased fabric in NYC to make reception dress Ordered veil/flower (same problem as others mentioned...to small from etsy) so I took it apart and will put it together. THere is enough fabric to make it work Trip booked...Dominican Republic for a week Honeymoon booked...going to Costa Rica for a week Bridesmaids all have their dresses Purchased rehersal dinner dress and shoes (and other dresses and bathing suits for the week) have all of the necessary information from the resort We both have our wedding bands on because we loved them and we are technically married (had a ceremony with 65 people per my mom...I was forced) I really need to find nice beach towels as gifts for our guests...we aren't going to do bags...Any suggestions? We are looking for a tiffany blue or a blue. I have a few more things to do... Programs Fans find pics of things I want done on the tables etc. Order the towels Vows Finalize the ceremony with the Pastor Sandals for the beach ceremony Grooms attire and groomsmen Gifts for mom's Alterations starting at the end of august I have a huge suprise that I am planning for Benny but I'm not going to put it on here until it's done...he is going to be so so happy!!! Sorry this is so long it was helpful for me to think about even though I have a spreadsheet with it all. And because I am super anal I have a spreadsheet for our budget and our savings for the wedding. I have pictures of things but can not for the life of me figure out how to put in my reply

Amber, congratulations!!! It looks like you had an amazing time. This information is so helpful. I love seeing how they set the resort up for the wedding. Thank you for posting

Snapfish: Share Photo:Registration I have no idea if this will work. I can't figure out how to put the picture in here...sorry if it doesn't.

I had a trial run of make up done when I went down to plan our wedding. It wasn't awful but I didn't like it and I definitely didn't think it was very sanitary. For example they used lip gloss right out of the container put it on my mouth and then took the same brush and put it back in the container. She didn't sharpen the eye liner before applying it and used the mascara wand out of the tube. I'm not sure if their standards are different there then they are here but for me that was just not going to work. One of my good friends who is coming is an esthetician/make-up artist and is doing my make up. Not sure about hair.

If someone could tell me how to post a picture I can show you the short dress I wore for our civil ceremony in the U.S. (we had a formal event for this). People LOVED it.

We are wondering the same thing. We actually had a civil ceremony in Boston in June with friends and family (65 people). My mom convinced me it was necessary because most people can't make our DW. I think we are going to celebrate our DW date...it's better....long weekend anniversaries because it's the day after Thanksgiving (some years of course).

Have you visited any of the places? For me it was an easy decision once I saw the resort. You can't go crazy with research you will drive yourself crazy and doubt your decision. I reasearched, picked 3 places, went to Punta Cana stayed at what I thought was my top pick, loved it, didn't look at the others, booked, and the biggest piece is to stop looking after you make a decision. Hope this helps.