chanelo

Hi Bridezilla2! Thanks so much for the compliment, I would definitely recommend HDC! I got the chairs from an external supplier, Alex Rijo, who can be contacted at 0018095565959. the price was about $5 each which was a lot cheaper than the resort, but they only speak spanish so it's better if you have someone who can order them for you (if you dont speak spanish!) and the cake stand belongs to the resort - they did a super job! Good luck planning! xxx

Hi girls! Thanks Soccer1615 - i sent the brochure to you today! Claire Marie, in answer to your questions: Did you take your own lanterns for the gazebo or did Dreams supply them? - I bought my own lanterns, I dont think they can provide them at the resort! I have ivory, white, peach and pink (not used on the day) - you are welcome to them if they suit your colour scheme - i'm in Ireland so could post them to you I get married on 21 April.....not...long. Would you recommend a 4.30pm ceremony? For me a 4.30 ceremony was perfect, so yes I would. Timing wise for photos etc it is ideal for sunset, which is when you wanna be taking your photos! Your photos look amazing. Do HDC do any smaller packages? HDC have a silver package - I went with the gold. The silver package includes 3 hours of shooting time (gold package is 4 hours) and you get 300 pics on a CD to print at your leisure (gold package is 375 pics) the silver package is $650, the gold is $850. Trust me, it'll be the best money you ever spend! Did you hav the cocktail hour? And was it part o th silver package? - I didnt have the cocktail hour and to be honest I didnt see the point - the gazebo is right beside SSG bar so my guests all wandered over there and had drinks while we had the photos taken. I did however pay for extra champagne for after the ceremony (they provide for 10 people so I bought 2 extra bottles at $25 each as I had 22 people) Also, our guests had all had lunch so hors dourves would have been wasted on them! I have my irish wedding tomorrow (sigh!) and then I go on honeymoon so I wont be online much but will answer any other questions as soon as I can! xxx

Thanks Brendee! I got the hearts in a random upholstery shop in Dublin, and yes the cake was from the resort! I didnt even pay for any extra pounds! When we met Jenny she suggested an extra pound but I said no becuase from what people have said on here I knew there would be plenty. So she showed us a photo of a flat one tier cake and I said it was fine, but on the day it was two tier which was amazing! I provided the flowers and Jenny did the cake table with the lovely coral fabric etc. The cake is sooo good - we had strawberry on the bottom tier and chocolate on the top tier - they gave us the top tier to take away and we all ate it by the pool the next day

One word. WOW. We used HDC for our wedding at dreams la romana on february 24th and they were simply fantastic. Milan took the photos and carlos did the videography and they were great to work with. I couldn’t recommend them enough! Our DVD is so brilliant and even though I didnt tell them what music I would like included in it they used all the same songs that we had from our ceremony - it is just wonderful. The photography is so incredible it looks like half of the backgrounds are superimposed - I dont know how they do it! But what I do know is that HDC have given me the best memories of my wedding I could have hoped for and it was the best money I have ever spent! Totally recommend them Here's my favourite pics

Hi Ladies!!!! I'm back and what can I say - our wedding was just INCREDIBLE!!! It was everything I wished for and more - we got home today and we're still on cloud nine! Quick Review: RESORT: Just as wonderful as I remembered it. I think the restaurants were even better this time, everything was fab. It was incredibly busy, 100 occupancy when we were there which wasn’t ideal as it meant there were often wait times for the restaurants but it was still great, we were just a little unlucky that two large groups were staying at the same time. If I had one comment to make I would say the cleanliness could be a little better in the rooms and public areas, but trust me, you have chosen a wonderful resort and wont regret it! JENNY: as you all know I had a pricing issue with Jenny a couple of weeks before we left when they introduced a new fee for the deck and decided that it applied to us even though I had my emails confirming my pricing (with no mention of this set up charge) I was very unhappy about this, not so much for the money, but because I felt it was very unfair to apply this new charge to existing bookings – we believe it should only have applied to future bookings. We both work in a hotel in Dublin and we would never dream of changing pricing on a bride and groom AFTER they have booked and agreed to prices. However, as soon as I met Jenny I loved her. She is so warm and gives the best, most reassuring hugs! In the end she gave us a 50% discount and we were fine with that. WEDDING: We had our ceremony at the garden gazebo and our reception on the SSG deck. On the day in question I felt Jenny went above and beyond and was really attentive. The set up was absolutely perfect, they even added some small touches like candles, extra linens, and they gave us lovely gold charger plates complimentary. My lanterns were hung perfectly (to answer someone’s earlier question, fishing wire is what you need but Jenny has tons of it and provided it free of charge to us) I cannot recommend the SSG deck enough for dinner – it really is the most perfect location for your dinner, the weather at this time of year is wonderful as it is not hot or cold, just right! We had Pastor Rick for our ceremony and he was lovely, everyone commented on how beautiful and romantic the ceremony was – if anyone would like a copy of our ceremony just let me know. We had two lovely readings which I loved. A couple of things I worried about were the DJ playing the right music (we provided an IPOD with songs listed as “guests waitingâ€, “processionalâ€, “sand ceremonyâ€, “end of ceremony†and everything was played perfectly. I also wondered if our guests would be able to hear us but Pastor Rick had a mic so that was perfect. Our ceremony was at 4.30pm, but we ran late to about 4.50pm which I think was perfect; ceremony finished at 5.15pm which led straight into… PHOTOGRAPHY: One word. WOW. We had HDC and they were simply fantastic. Milan took the photos and carlos did the videography and they were great to work with. I was charged $60 by the resort for their pass. I couldn’t recommend them enough! Our DVD is so brilliant and I’ll add some photos to this post so you can see their work. DINNER: we went with the silver menu and trust me, even though the menu description is a little unusual, the food was DELICIOUS!!! We went with the crabcakes, minestrone soup, beef tenderloin or grouper for main course and apple pie for dessert. Everything was fantastic and everyone said it was the best meal of the week. Service was excellent all during the reception – I couldn’t fault a thing. So don’t be put off by the silver menu, it’s perfect for a wedding reception and I liked the fact that the crab cakes, soup and grouper brought a little dominican flair into the meal. DANCING: we started our speeches at 7pm and dinner started about 7.30pm. We finished by about 9pm and had two hours of dancing on the deck. We brought an IPOD with our own playlists and they DJ was great – he even mixed in a bit of his own versions of our music so it wasn’t so stilted moving from song to song like a normal IPOD would. At 11pm (we tried to extend this but even with a little bribery they wouldn’t budge!) we went to the beach where there was a beach party on, and then we went to the nightclub to party the night away. We ended up in World Café having burgers at 3am! J Here are some photos. Let me know if you have any questions, and trust me – your weddings will be PERFECT!! XXX

Hi ladies! well we leave tomorrrow - or in 8 hours to be precise! I'm so excited but panicking that i've forgotten something! For those of you who asked about the programme - I didnt keep the wording but I do have some spares, so if you pm me your address I will send you a copy I'll keep you updated if I can during the week! Amurka - not long to go hon! xxx

Thanks soccer 1615! not long for you now either!

Hi Vancouver bride! Thanks a million. I got the bags and labels from vistaprint - all of the items I got from vistaprint were free with the exception of the bags - I would say they averaged out at about $3.50 per bag because I kept an eye out for special offers, 1/2 price etc. Yes I think it's a good idea to send the OOT bags ahead of time, particularly if you're including items such as suncream, toothbrushes etc that people will purchase for themselves if they havent already received their bags. And of course so you dont have to carry them all! I didnt a little brochure too which included information on the flights etc which people need to know in advance - here's a photo of the brochures (also free on vistaprint!) The card holders and lanyards were purchased from an american company and I had them shipped here - I'll look up the name again and let you know!

Also, just thought i'd share this idea with you - my FI and I have agreed to buy "each other" a good camcorder to use on our honeymoon and to capture some of the happy moments that will hopefully come in our future as husband and wife So I was looking for a small idea to get him a little gift and I came up with this. It is an original newspaper from the day he was born (The Irish Times) which is his favourite daily newspaper. The presentation folder is so nice and I even got to personalise the certificate of authenticity

Hi ladies! Amurka its good to have you back! I was worried about you! I only have 13 sleeps left before we leave for DLR – I can’t believe it! We sent out our OOT bags last week and everyone loved them. We included an “in sickness and in health†bag with a first aid kit, electrolytes and painkillers. Then there was an “in good times and in bad†bag with personalised postcards, suncream, insect repellent, sewing kit, ear plugs, key card and tip money cases with lanyard and aloe vera lip balm. Then a “to make life easier†bag with luggage tags, toothpaste and toothbrush, sunglasses wipes, personalised notepad and pen, and a plug adaptor (UK to US). Here are some photos of the finished product!

LIST OF WEDDINGS IN DREAMS LA ROMANA Chanelo February 24th 2012 Amurka 6th March 2012 Cynthia (CynMay2012) - May 4th 2012 brendee2005 May 5th, 2012 almasu - May 19th 2012 soccer1615 July 5th 2012 Romana uk 2012 September 7th 2012 Andreanna October 27, 2012 Vancouver Bride 29 Oct, 2012 jess819 November 9th, 2012 Jessicalynneh November 10th, 2012 Hi Ladies, we leave in 25 days - I cant believe it! I still havent resolved my issue with the resort over them changing the prices - Jenny said she cant discuss it with me until we're at the resort which I'm not happy about but i'm trying not to stress. Vancouver bride - my colours are coral and gold; here are some images showing how the colours can work well together

Thanks anudrm, and do you remember if they quoted you for the deck rental? if so, how much?

Hi Anudrm, did you have your dinner on the deck?