jessicalynneh

No one got upset stomachs from the wedding food, just in general at the resort - just wanted to make that clear sorry!!

We had 160 guests at our wedding in November, and no one got food poisoning!! We had the buffet at the wedding and everyone LOVED it. Some people did get upset stomachs bc of the difference in the food, but they just took immodium and were fine (its like going to any other strange place - your body isn't used to it!) No one got food poisoning!!

What did you guys pay for them?? Which package did you get??

Hey ladies!! Just be careful with your calculations...don't forget that there is a 26% tax (sales tax and service fee) that is in addition the $60-$70 per person, and also that the open bar fee (which is REQUIRED to have by the resort when you are having any sort of event - this is to be sure your guests won't just go to another bar to get the free drinks) is $10/pp plus the 26% tax. So sometimes it is right around the same price, if not more $$ to NOT do one of the packages. (The packages already include the taxes) Also, the free package doesn't include any photos or video of the wedding, your hair/makeup, etc. Just something to think about!! If you have 40 people and don't do a wedding package and the dinner is $70/pp, you are paying $2800 + $728 tax = $3528. Then for the open bar @ $10/pp you are paying $400 + $104 tax, so your total is now $4032, plus the $500 for the restaurant is $4532. (With no extras) To do the Love Wedding package its $2399, then $2016 total for the 20 people not included in the package for dinner & drinks, which = $4915. So you're only saving $383, but not getting hair/makeup, centerpieces, any pictures, or any video included. Just make sure you get ALL prices from the WC and know exactly what you will be charged for, so you don't have any surprises. There are caps on how many guests you can have in each place, and if you are over a certain number of guests you have to have a buffet. (I think all the numbers are on one of the wedding packets.)

Congratulations & welcome!! We used the Ultimate Wedding Package and then added on everything else we wanted and it was definitely worth it! (We had a larger group though). How many people are you expecting? Tropical Studio does great pictures but bc they are on the resort (convenient) they are about 3x-4x more expensive than HDC, Caribbean Emotions, or most of the other photographers you would bring in. We had a videographer & photographer from 3-10pm, and photobooth for the reception, the raw video footage, edited DVD, ALL pictures on CD, 350 prints, and a coffee table book for $2650 from HDC. Tropical Studio wanted $300/hr for just the videographer.

You can personalize your cocktail hour however you want - we had it in the Taino Gardens next to the Garden Gazebo (where we had the ceremony) and it was gorgeous - they put out couches and loungey oversized chairs and tables, it was beautiful. We had 2 bars and it was great for guests to have the 2 bars and only have to walk a few feet from the ceremony to grab snacks! We also personalized our cocktail hour menu. They have a list of some decoration prices, but you can literally have anything you want - we wanted lantern centerpieces with candles and some flowers (we hate the tall ones that you can't see across the table through) so I sent them a picture, they gave me a price, and the centerpieces were PERFECT! The decorations come from an outside vendor so they will email them your request and give you a quote, but you really can do anything you want. We had our reception in the ballroom (which was also beautiful and they did such a gorgeous decorating job) bc we didn't want it to end at 11 (we went until ab 12:45 then moved to the disco which is right next door). We also had it inside bc we brought our own band, & that way we didnt have to worry about the noise levels.

Also make sure you tell her asap what specific spot you want for your rehearsal dinner (if you are having one, ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception - there are sometimes up to 3 weddings in a day and spots get taken. (We booked our date over a year out but other girls getting married that day & weekend had issues with spots being booked bc they didn't know they needed to give this information so far in advance to guarantee them.) I'm sure you can do a cocktail hour with just drinks, just ask Jenny. We did chose our own cocktail hour and dinner (buffet) menu and they gave us a personalized price on both (its an outside vendor that does the food - it was excellent!) As far as tipping, there is a service fee included in the pricing, but we still tipped the Wedding Coordinator, servers at the rehearsal dinner ($20/ea - and two of the five stayed about two hours after the rehearsal after we tipped them and brought drinks to us and our guests on the beach while we lit sky lanterns and had a bonfire so that we didn't have to wait at the bar - so of course they got more tips!), servers at the wedding (also $20/ea, and I know a lot of the tables tipped their personal servers also - they were FANTASTIC! Literally one server per one or two tables and no one waited for drinks or really had to go to the bar too much unless there was a big group of us doing shots - and my crowd are all HUGE drinkers so I was shocked at how great they really were!) It isn't required but their service is really unbelievable and they deserved it.

We had our quote probably 7 months out from the wedding - and had it adjusted as we went as we added and removed things. Are you working with a travel agent? That might be helpful & might be why we got our quotes updated so often. (They don't charge you anything - they are paid by the resorts. PM me for more info on this if you want.) We also had a huge wedding (160 people) so maybe that is why also - we DEFINITELY wouldn't have been able to do a destination wedding not knowing our costs until a week before, I would have flipped out!

Marji, They do accept USD - you just have to request it and sometimes pay in advance for it. Be careful paying in pesos - definitely talk to your bank or credit card company ahead of time - most charge a fee for converting USD to pesos (anywhere from 3% - 12% of the cost, so this can really add to your expenses). The officiant cost is included in one of the brochures they should have sent you - the regular officiant is $60 but if you are having an official legal wedding the Judge is actually a $500 fee I believe. We had one of our friends marry us, because the officiant actually performs the ceremony in spanish and there is a traslator (the Judge does anyway, not sure about the regular officiant). We wanted to write our own ceremony so this option was best for us. We had the highest Dreams wedding package you could get (I believe $2999) and our speakers were included for the ceremony.

Azua...what quotes are you looking for? If you're looking for full wedding quotes.the WC will give you a personalized quote depending on what you want for the wedding/how many people, etc. There are a ton more options for the rehearsal/wedding than are listed in any of the booklets they send you.

We set almost everything up way before we got there...we needed to know our costs for everything, especially having so many people. At first Jenny told us they didn't do the bonfires anymore but then she had it on our quote (I will double check but I believe she charged us $120 for it.). We had it on the beach after our rehearsal dinner, after we released the sky lanterns - it lasted ab an hour. The whole night was absolutely beautiful. I would definitely recommend the sky lanterns, everyone had soo much fun with them. I got mine on one of those discount sites (I think onesaleaday.com) I got lucky bc they were the biodegradable ones and had only string and paper, no metal, so I could order them.

We hired a professional photographer for the sky lantern release...so worth it!!!

Hey ladies!!! Just got back from our 12 day wedding trip to Dreams! Let me tell you, it was AMAZING. Every little detail was perfect, our rehearsal dinner (40 people!), followed by a slideshow on the beach and releasing sky lanterns was absolutely gorgeous, and our wedding/cocktail hour/reception(155 people!) were all perfect and SO much fun - Jenny and the Dreams staff really went way above and beyond anything we could have imagined. I will post a full review with pictures when we get the professional ones, but here are a few for now! The picture with the fireworks is our first dance...we were in the ballroom and they surprised us with fireworks at the four corners of the dance floor! Gorgeous!!

JessMaine - Are you sure you have the right email for the wedding coordinators there? What email are you using? That's not like them to not respond especially since the wedding is so close. On the plus side, if you're positive that the deposit was taken for the date then you should he locked into that date. However, you definitely want to at least lock down times and places of the ceremony, reception, etc., bc they can fill up. My WC is Jenny but I can give you her email if its differet from the one you have.

The resort doesnt have a shuttle but there is a transfer company that they work closely with - it is an extra cost per person. Do you have a travel agent that is working with the resort? My TA set up the cost of the transfers in our guests pricing for the resort.

I know, its SOO close!! Jenny is my WC, I haven't ever dealt with Yanna - who is your WC? I sent them examples of the bouquets/centerpieces and the colors that we want and she just sent me prices. Although she does have examples so just email her and ask her to send you examples of those and pricing. The linens I'm actually using the ones from one of the pics she sent me (I didn't request them for the linens, I requested pics of the ballroom to show my family bc I forgot to take them when we were there visiting & thats where our reception is.) They are extra, like $25 a table or something but i love them & they match our gold tiffany chairs. This is them below - they have sort of a gold underlay and a beige-ish/gold top linen. Our theme is vintage so they go perfectly with everything! Have you decided where you are having your ceremony & reception yet?