ska2m

Quote: Originally Posted by Miss. Lavallee Hi ladies! I have been eyeing Dreams Punta Cana for our wedding. We are hoping for November 2011. Am I planning too far in advance? I am just so excited!! Hi Arin!to this forum! You will find a ton of information here! As for planning too far, i don't think you are as we are getting married at DPC in Nov. 2011 and I planned this starting May of this year!! It'll go by super fast! Goodluck! Ska Ska

Quote: Originally Posted by nsbride2010 I am getting ready to head to Toronto where we get our flight to Punta Cana tomorrow afternoon... SO EXCITED! Thank you ladies for all of your help an guidance, you are all amazing PS: Tam your mugs have been a huge hit!!! Have a great time Nat!!

I loved your video Toya! You and your husband looked great!! Congratulations Mrs!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by KimHyde83 Hi, We are wanting to get married in the Caribbean and started with a beautiful hotel in Mexico but they didn't offer single person supplements, looked at a few others, but eventually decided against Mexico and opted for the beautiful Dom Rep. We were trying to decide against The Magestic Colonial or the Grand Palladium Palace but when I rang the Weddings department of our Travel Agent, were advised of the high translation and authorisation fees. This came to over £1000!! Has everyone had to pay this? Then we were advised that Beach Weddings were not available from our Agent due to the wind!! Why offer a Beach Wedding that is not on the beach?! We are looking at getting married in May 2011, fingers crossed at sunset. Can anyone comment on the wind/weather at this time of year?! I am just wondering whether it is a major issue that we need to consider. We have about 40 people coming with us, some children, some single occupancies and this hotel ticks all of the boxes! I am getting to the point where this is no longer fun and just a chore!!! If anyone can offer advise, that would be perfect. Thank you in advance. K x Hey there, We are getting married at Dreams Punta Cana! There is a thread here on ust that resort in Punta Cana. It's a beautiful resort and the prices are very reasonable. They also do have beach weddings that they charge an additional price of I believe $300. But they also have a gorgeous gazebo for the ceremony if you would like to look at as well. The weather will be very hot, so you might want to do it like around 4 or 5, then have the reception after. Hope all goes well! Good Luck!

Quote: Originally Posted by krismac15 I recently returned from my wedding on June 10, 2010 at Dreams Punta Cana and it was amazing. I found a couple of people's reviews on here after their weddings, which were a HUGE help, so I hope this helps some of you out. I was originally working with Deyanira, but was switched to Yessica just before the wedding. It was a blessing because Yessica was absolultely wonderful. I didn't really do too much before getting down there, except that we picked out our location for the wedding, our reception venue, we reserved the photographer and videographer from the resort, and we reserved a DJ. Other than that, we picked out everything else down there. Oh, we ended up sticking with the free wedding package (the basic one) that we got for booking the honeymoon suite, and then added what we wanted on. It ended up being the most cost effective that way. When we checked in, we received a letter from Yessica that we were to meet her the next day at 11:30am. Within one hour of meeting with her, we'd visited our reception location, decided how it would be set up and how many tables we'd have, and picked out our wedding cake, table linens, centerpieces, music, food, and flowers. We discussed how the wedding would take place and who was walking and everything. So, after that hour we felt very prepared and were ready to vacation and did not have to worry about anything. The only decorations I brought down with me were straw fans decorated with a bow to put on all of the chairs (they turned out to be very useful- HOT!), our cake serving set, and 2 pieces of fabric to swag around the cake table. Everything else was them and it was so beautiful. Yessica was there with us that day from the start of the ceremony until the end of the reception to make sure everything went smoothly. So, here's the break down... Flowers- She had me go through a book and see what I liked and she converted whatever bouquets or bouteineers that I liked into the flowers and colors I wanted. They were so stunning. My guests couldn't believe how gorgeous those flowers were. Beach set up- It was at 5:00. The sun was starting to go down, but it was not sunset. The sun sets actually on the north side of the land line, not over the ocean, if you're hoping for sunset/ocean shots. They set it up literally right next to the place where they have the scuba shop and there are racks and signs there. So, I asked her if they could cover them up and she wrapped them in white fabric and put flowers on them... no extra charge. It looked nice. Yessica did our ceremony because we'd decided to do our civil ceremony in the U.S. I'd heard too many stories about bad experiences getting back paper work and all that stuff, but to us, it's our wedding day. The ceremony was about 10-15 minutes with everyone walking and all. We had 37 guests and the chairs are covered in white and everyone loved it. Right after we were pronouned husband and wife and kissed, they passed out champagne and all of the guests loved it. It felt so informal, in a good way. We were barefoot. The ring bearers brought up our rings in these lions paw shells that are the size of your hand with a ribbon tying it on and we just filled in the inside with sand. It was pretty... a pillow felt to stuffy for me on the beach. Right after the ceremony, we headed out because there was another wedding after and ours started late. But, they didn't seem pushy or anything and it felt very natural. Photographer- We had Michael with Tropical Pictures (from the resort). He was great. Took amazing pictures. In the package, it said we'd have him for 30 min. after the ceremony, but he stayed with us for almost a full hour and a half after the ceremony until our reception started at 7:00. We had 186 edited ones to pick through and we ended up getting 100 of them on a CD (we added on to the Bronze package). We also got a complimentary Domincan album and we put our 50 prints in there. You can negotiate price with them if you're adding on to a package by the way. That saved us a considerable amount of money. The day after the wedding, we just went to their counter and looked through all the pics and picked out what we wanted. Then the next day they were ready. Make sure if you get some on CD though, that if you plan on printing at home, that you get a print release from them. Otherwise, some places where you'd send off to get larger prints or something, they will not print them without the print release. Videographer- We used the resort videographer. He was there for the ceremony and shortly after. The video was about 15 minutes long and it was nice how he edited it. There's also some footage in the beginning of the resort itself, so it's nice to have that. And the sound editing was great. He added in music where it was needed but you could still hear us when you should. Music- We used the Carribean music trio for our wedding. I much preferred it over a CD or something. They played a soft, tropical song while everyone walked, and then did the bridal march when I came down. After the wedding, I still had them for 30 minutes or so, so they followed us and our guests getting pictures. At the reception, we got a DJ. He did a good job. He had trouble with the CD I gave them and it stopped the music for a few minutes, so they added on like a half our extra. Reception- We had it at the Himitsu terrace. That terrace is absolutely lovely. I wouldn't have changed that for the world. Everything was set up BEYOND our expectations. We had 4 tables set up around the perimeter and the DJ across from the head table, so the dance floor was in the middle of the tables. There was plenty of space for the 39 of us. Didn't feel too big or too small. There was our own separate bar set up and all that stuff too. The cake was delicious, although very simply decorated in white. We just put our bouquets around it for pictues of it and it looked nice. Oh dinner! We skipped the cocktail hour (since it's an all-inclusive and people could go get their own cocktails) and sprung for the Platinum dinner. It was well worth it. OMG-delicious food. And the kids got chicken fingers and fries. They set out personalized menus on everyone's plates before we got there. There was one mistake... cream of pumpkin soup became "cream of pumping". We are the type of group that did not get upset about it and laughed hyterically. It will be a funny memory. Dinner could've taken awhile with all of those courses, but we asked them to speed it up a bit so we could get to dancing, and it worked out well. Resort- Overall fantastic. The entertainment team and wait staff are off the charts amazing. The food is great overall as well. (Of course it was, I gained 4 lbs. in a week there.) My ONLY complaint is that it felt so hot there and the AC is not what it is in the U.S. Many of the restaurants and the discoteca are not air conditioned, so when you're hot all day and you go back to your room not being that cool, it can be irritating. But, despite that even, I wouldn't have changed a thing about our wedding. My advice is to enjoy your wedding planning and not make it too stressful on yourself. They have everything taken care of down there and they are experts at it, so no point in overplanning before you even get there. Get your bases covered and handle the details as they come. Good luck to all of you on your own wedding planning! Congratulations! (I tried to attach some pics, but I can't get my jpeg. files to format correctly. And they seem to exceed the file limits.) Thanks for sharing your review!! It sounded like you had a great time! If you can also forward the pitctures to me, that would be great! It's [email protected] Thanks again, Ska Ska

Thanks for posting this! I was trying to find florists outside of the resorts as they are pretty expensive when you stay in-house!

Quote: Originally Posted by JackieandTim Have any of you married DPC brides gotten your makeup done by the resort? I plan to but at the same time I dont want to worry about looking like a clown on my wedding day. You definitely won't look like a clown! I went to see DPC in person last month and visited the spa where your hair and make-up is being done. They had pictures of previous brides and also there was a bride there with her make-up done and she looked great! I've read many posts on brides who had their make-up done and loved it and also had their hair done (some brought pics with them of the style they wanted) and they said it came out great! They'll do a fabulous job and also if you are unhappy, they will redo it for free. You can always get a trial done the day before if you really are nervous.....

Quote: Originally Posted by nsbride2010 I thought I would update you all on the vase subject. I called Air Transport Security here in Canada, and he told me that as long as it is empty and is well packaged it CAN be brought on board. In fact, he said the recommend this, since it is a delicate item. My TA also confirmed this, and said that especially since we are a large wedding party there won't be an issue; they will put it through the xray scanner on its own to make sure there is nothing in it and that it is a vase, and that MAYBE they might ask us to unpack it from its bubble wrap. But other than that, they won't give us a hassle. WOO HOO! Quick question, did DPC not have the vases you wanted to use or the type you wanted? I haven't asked the WC about that! 2 weeks to go until you are married!!! You must be pysched!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by beachbum2010 Hello Ladies, Just wondering about the outdoor terraces. I read a while back when I was doing my reseach about resorts that you cannot have dancing and music on the outdoor terrances. I have been in contact with the WC at Dreams Punta Cana and she told me that all receptions are on outdoor terraces and they do the set up to allow for dancing. Is there anyone that has knowledge about this...can you have a full dance/reception after dinner on the outdoor terrace?? There is definitely dancing allowed on the terraces and there is no need for a dance floor, that's only if you are having the reception on the beach. The only restriction is that the reception must end by 11pm since it's outdoors and they don't want to disturb the other guests with loud music. Hope this helps!

Hey Misty, I'm having my stepfather do the ceremony part since I wanted to include him somehow in the wedding. I asked Deyanira when I visited if that was ok and she said yes since it's just a symbolic ceremony! Thanks, Ska Ska

Thanks for sharing Erin! Loved the pics! Gets me even more excited about my wedding there! =)

Hi Bella. Welcome to the forum! If you go back and read like the last 30 pages, you will find all the answer to your questions on the reception/locatin. Also, if you go to Dream PC website, you will see the different packages listed under Weddings. As for the WC, they do respond eventually, but they usually respond to brides whose wedding's are happening soon. So no need to stress as someone will eventually e-mail you.

Thanks Erin on the heads up. I figured I would hire the monkey, but have folks purchase their own pics (unless i get a good deal and can purchase a set amount for a cheaper price)....I know they are expensive as I ended up paying $45 for 6 pics....but i loved them! Actually, quick question for those having a symbolic wedding only. Did you get a handout or something on what the WC performing the ceremony is going to say or did you provide her with what you want said at your ceremony? Didn't want my ceremony to only last 5 minutes..so I'm confused on what will be said since mine won't be religious or civil......

Thanks Jenise! I figured i would start now so i can take my time in planning (also know how much i need to save)! I would be too stressed if i had to plan in one year! You girls are good if you can do that! =)

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....

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

Getting married in November at DPC! Can't wait