trivera5521

Thanks! I am totally on Susana's shit list, so I brought my happy ass a calling card and called her. Of course I forgot to ask her that..

To ellaborate a bit more on that, did you include children under the age of 8 as part of your alloted number of people for your package? Sy for the multiple posts..

Was anyone ever quoted childrens prices for the wedding packages? Do kids pay the full price of $50 too?

Diana....welcome back!! You looked absolutely stunning girlie! You rocked that dress (loved it) and I cant thank you enough for the detailed review! It's so helpful to us upcoming brides! A few questions:

• You flew out of NY on what airline? What did you do with your dress...carry on?
• Did any of your guests use the resort credits, I'm still a bit confused on how this works?
• Would LOVE to see the video tropical pictures did when you get it?
• In your opinion did the MC make a big difference in the flow of the night?
• You said there were no hidden fees/charges...so the DJ was $1300 plus the add'tl hour, bridesmaids flowers $30, additional people for rehearsal dinner were how much?
• Did you play any music during your/bridal party walk down the aisle, how did that work out?
• Your welcome bags were awesome! Was there anything you felt really was used by your guests or not really neccessary?
• Anything you would do different?
• Did it rain at all while you were there?

Thanks again for your review and taking the time out to answer all of our questions.

TDawn: Did you have a symbolic wedding, if so how did the ceremony part of it work? In terms of verbiage. Did your guests feel like it was happening for the first time or was it apparent that your actual exchange of vows had already taken place? Did they have a scripted ceremomy for it?

Thanks for the heads up on the Tropical Pictues video ladies, you guys are awesome!

Ugh I missed this one too! I wish there was a way to put a ticker in for vistaprint that would notify you whenever there is a deal regardless of the location. I keep missing them and desperately need to place an order. If anyone has any extra please let me know I will gladly take it off your hands =)

Miss Jalli we are not doing escort cards or a seating chart since we are only having 45 people. I will be doing it for my ATH that is for 120 didnt find it necessary for DR since its such a small group. Not sure what past brides did but I dont recall any mention of seating chart/escort cards. I think its a matter of preference. Oh and congrats on grad school I too am in grad school and had to take 3 months prior to the wedding off because I just couldnt juggle it. Good luck!

As I suspected Susana met with DJ Mania yesterday and they signed a contract that all DJ services need to go through the resort. We will no longer be able to book DJ Mania directly even if you book a room for him. Just criminal that the resort charges almost $500 more than what he charges for the exact same pacakge! Not happy with this resort at all in terms of finances and hidden fees!

Thanks Natalia!! Miss Jalli: How are you getting the fish bowls there? Carry on or shipping them? Since your from DR and I am sure you've mailed things there before what are your thoughts on shipping things?

Aww thanks babes thats nice of you to offer, what are you doing for centerpieces?! I mean $30 per table was do-able but $50 "she done lost her mind" LOL!

And just as an FYI even if we have things in writing because I did, they are legally covered since their contract and all their marketing pieces that have prices say, "Prices subject to change without notice". Grrrr!

Sorry for the multiple posts guys but can someone please send me the 2013 spa prices please? [email protected]

Parrish: When I did my site visit Jeanna did say that the bridal salon wasnt available for all the bridesmaids to get ready at. Something about it being too noisy for others using the spa that they dont allow for it since its all in the same place. What did she quote you for the use of the bridal salon?

Miss Jalli: If I recall correctly you said you actually called the WC at the resort and spoke to someone at some point? Did you just call the main # and ask to be transferred? I am so nervous now about the financial aspect of this wedding. We arent going with an unlimited amount of resourse and with the prices changing I feel like I need to reconfirm EVERYTHING so there arent any huge finanical surprises when I get there that I wont be able to afford to pay for. Feeling super stressed about this ugh!

Not sure if I said it before but I couldnt have planned this wedding without this forum! Thank you all for being there and listening to all my b*tching and complaining along the way LOL =)

Disazaja!! Congrats on becoming a Mrs!!! So looking forward to your review enjoy the rest of your honeymoon!!!

Okay so whats the deal for the rehearsal dinner because this is the first I am hearing about the additional cost after the first 20 people. What a fkn surprise?! We planned on the hibachi restaurant but we have nearly doubled in size so we wont fit at the hibachi tables so we need to find another option. What is Ibiza 1 and 2? Is that the same as the steakhouse and was that one free or does the same fee apply? I am going to reach out to Susana because I thought that we can make reservations for a big group at any of the restaurants for free and the only time we get charged is if we wanted a seperate private area? Anyone know who the bride was that had her rehearsal dinner at ibiza for free?

For the DJ I swear it such a scam, so DJ Mannia charges $990 for the 4 hours with an MC the resort charges us $1300 for the same services but for only 3 hours even though his package is for 4 hours. Then the resort charges us an additional $12 pp for the extra hour on top of a $200 and something dollar fee for the DJ's additional hour even though his package already includes it. I am sure they will change the policy going forward for all the 2014 brides because as of now there is a loop whole that Susana didnt seem happy about since the resort is loosing money.

BBPD current DJ package is Basic DJ $ 708usd for 3 hours or Full DJ with MC, 2 mobile lights and 2 cold fires $1300usd for 3 hours and they use DJ Mannia.

Just so you guys get a feel for my frustration these centerpieces were $30 4 months ago when I spoke to her now, they are $50!

Miss Jali girl please I went to Michaels and tried to make them before I ended up biting the bullet and just purchasing them through a vendor and it was an epic fail LOL. I think the really challenging part for the DIY bouquets is the quality of flowers you buy, I found that the ones Michael had looked cheap even the ones that were a bit pricey at nearly $9 a stem. It was fun to try and wrap the stem part and then do the whole pin thing but def nothing I thought would work or that I wanted to use. If you can find a vendor that has good real touch flowers at a decent price I would suggest making them. I couldnt find one and the ones I did find were pretty expense and would have cost me nearly as much as the professional ones. Well give or take.

Natalie: Did you try the Apple Green on their swatches, that looks pretty close to mint? They also have a peach color was that not close enough. I think to find the colors exact to is close to impossible, are they even remotely close? Mss Jalli is doing her site visit in May and I have my weddig in May I can probably bring you back an actual swatch as opposed to trying to match to the PDF if you want? I know your wedding is in June and might be cutting it close? Peach and grey are a great color combination, maybe just do the peach as your primary and then contrast with the mint. The contrasting color typically is just a splash her or there.

On another note: I am about to loose my mind with Susana.  First they changed the DJ price to more than double of whats on my invoice, she quoted me $30 per centerpiece and now since I am 50 days away and trying to finalize my budget she raised that to now $50 per table! WTF! I feel like everytime I turn around they are raising prices! The Tangerine Package of $4000 is nearly at $6,000 as of now.  Oh and she did finally say that we can use DJ Mannia if we book one night stay for him at the resort. But then she proceeds to say that I have to rent the equipment from the resort....really?! Ugh I need to step back because I feel a total Bitch mode moment coming on! DJ Mannia is $990 for 4 hours and the receptions at BBPD are 3 hours. I know we spoke about this already but how much is it per person for the additional hour and does anyone know if DJ Mannia comes with the MC services. Ya figure at $990 for the 4 hours plust minimum of one night stay $100 give or take I'm at $1,100 at this point. Ugh IDK what the fk to do or say...just super over budget and not getting any better!

There's nothing wrong with the real touch flowers...I am actually making the investment into them for my bouquet and the GM's bouts. Its something I can keep forever. Here is a picture of them. I only have 3 BM and so I dont have enough bouquets to use as centerpieces but if I did I would surely use them. Definetly not being cheap its a great money saving idea and at $30 a head...um yea definetly adds up!!

On the hunt for a Vistaprint groupon or livingsocial deal!!!  Please let me know if anyone has one they are willing to sell or if anyone has a deal currently going on in their area. Thanks ladies!!

Bjean: In regards to the outside DJ if you go back in this thread Johanna whom got married in September of last year some how used DJ Mannia and did pay the outside vendor fee. What she said was, "The hotel did know I was bringing an outside DJ and they didn't have to stay at the resort as long as we counted them as guests. So we essentially paid for two extra plates". So I reached out to Susana because I dont want to booked DJ Mannia and pay him only to be hit with a $1300 outside vendor fee from BBPD as well. She is really pushing back on this and giving me a hard time despite the fact that they seemed to have done it for a past bride. Ugh! His prices were so much more reasonable and he has amazing reviews. I will let you know if I make any progress with this.

Past BBPD Brides that have done symbolic weddings. We are legaling getting married before we leave but of course dont want any of our guests to know. We want it to seem as if its an actual "real" wedding.  Does the resort provide like a generic script? We are planning on doing our own vows but I am not sure if I should be scripting the entire ceremony or if the resort has a generic one that allows for us to do our own vows? And if so does anyone have it or were you given an opportunity to see/read it before the ceremony?

Miss Jali, yes I booked with liberty and a big reason why was because my guests were able to put a $50 deposit down and pay it lil by lil which was a huge benefit. They crossed referenced their prices with the barcelo prices so my guests got the early booking rates. I found that cheap carribean.com was only a few dollars cheaper in most cases to what liberty quoted. Also although I did my own StD they offer free personalized ones to all brides and includes the TA contact info. Of course airfare had to be paid in full and I would highly suggest if flying out of NY jumped on anything you see less than $500 rt. I saw airfare for $480 back in November and regretfully didn't jump on it and it cost me nearly $200 more per ticket!

Mvee: they don't allow outside vendors without paying a $1300 fee. You can however bring your photographer with you as long as they are staying at the resort and counted as a guest. They are contracted with Tropical Pictures and you can ck em out on FB. They do allow you to bring your own decorations and offer both buffet and side down dinners. Buffet is what is typically included in the package n the played is at an additional cost. I did a site visit and for me I loved that the resort had so much to offer and was super family friendly. We have a 2 year old so this was important to us. Also everything was well maintained and the grounds were beautiful. The WC was very nice and knowledgable, oh and the resort was one of the more affordable ones on my list. Good luck and happy planning:) 

Miss Jalli:

To be clear these prices DO NOT include airfare right? They seem awfully high I would suggest going on the Barcelo website and doing a price comparison.  They offer 25% off for early booking if your looking at rates for 2014. March is peak since its spring break for most colleges and the grade school kids are also off from school so I would expect that your flights and rooms would be a bit higher but these prices seem too high.  On an average you should expect to pay $100 per person per night. The above prices are based on double occupancy but still avaerage close to $181 per person per night for the cheapest room for 5 nights. The transfers are maybe $30 per person so take that away from the price..its still high at $150 per night.

We booked a year in advance for our May 2013 wedding and locked in at $87 pp per night for the basic room. I had guests that booked last week and still got in for $100 pp/per night. Anyway alot more info then you asked for but nonetheless they are high. I would def shop around!

We are doing something similar however with Sand dollars.  I will have a table set up with a bunch of sand dollars and fine point sharpies. The table will be dressed with our wedding colors, a net, a treasure chest and shells just for decor.  The instructions will be printed on aged parchment paper and framed indicating that our guests are to write a lil msg/wish to us and at the end of ceremony we will all walk down to the shore and throw it in. I'm pretty excited abotu it and thought it would be a great way to incorporate our guests into our beach ceremony =)

For any past brides...Are there any additional costs that your guest incurred during the course of their stay? Any outrageous maintenance fees or mandatory gratuity charges? Looking for pretty much anything they had to come out their pockets for above and beyond special services such as spas or any shopping of course.

Trish: Honestly the costs really do add up quickly but I think that is a standard thing in DR in comparison to other resorts and their packages. I suppose it really comes down to what you want and your expectations. I am not sure what package your looking at but the Tangerine Package is definetly the way to go in regards to decor as it includes most everything you want for your ceremony. The additional costs of course are things like colored linens, centerpieces, tiffany chairs, vcocktail hour, DJ's, etc. There are also quite a few extra charges if you want a beach reception. They do have the $1300 outside vendor fee but if you read through the thread you can get around that if your photographer is also a guest and considered part of your wedding party.  I will say that when I booked last year I was quoted  one price for the DJ and it doubled this year. Last year I was quoted and had them include $487 basic DJ package on my invoice and this year their basic DJ package is like $830 or something like that. Of course they cover their asses becuase all their marketing materials say prices are subject to change without notice. Grrrr...makes you feel stuck.

Gorgeous!!

I actually gave them a choice but narrowed it down to only 2 choices, chicken and fish. I plan to choose chicken as my main choice included in the package because I think that will be the more popular choice and a secondary fish option. Once you start giving guests options the price adds up rather quickly between $10-$15 per option per person. I will PM you my menu to give you an idea of what I decided to do. They have a steakhouse as one of the restaurant on site so I decided not to do steak.

Bibi: The resort has $1000 outside vendor fee, but there a few loopholes. I really would spend a few hours and go through this thread because most if not all your questions will be answered by past and present brides. There is also a keyword search option at the top that may narrow down your search as opposed going through each page.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/tamara.rivera.967 here is my FB link..send me a request. I am in CT but right over the line about 20 minutes from the BX and 45 from the city. Lets wait for the warm weather and get a date on the calendar. Sounds like fun!

Disazaja: Your mom is so cute for that =) Did you book just a regular deluxe room and are hoping to be upgraded? I hear alot about the premium club, wonder how that works in terms of upgrades since it is included in the Tangerine Package. Although like everything else the fine print indicates upon availability LOL so not surprised.

Miss Jalli & Disazaja where in NY are you guys from? We are so close to one another, should grab lunch one Saturday afternoon.