jbmarch2012

I got them at Target.

Yes, most are still available... what are you interested in?

They steam it, yes!

The Castaways are just open for lunch and NOT dinner that's why I was surprised that they took that away as an option for a reception location. They started that before my wedding but I insisted on that and I also saved all of my emails from every wedding coordinators I had and I clearly stated there that the no.1 reason I booked with them was because I really wanted the Castaways for my reception!

I don't think they would honor that since they do have a fine print stating that prices may change any time.

Haha np... And Thanks!!!

Aaaawww... Thanks!!!

If you do get a poolside reception you most likey would have it set up by the "quiet pool" which is has surrounding it a pagoda or gazebo looking things. lol. sorry not sure what they're called! but here a pic http://jasmineandryan2012.shutterfly.com/pictures/828 it's the wooden thing that basically is the same as the castaways... I do believe they took out the Castaways option so atleast if you still want that setting you can still pull it off on those! And I've seen them set up recceptions there since it was over looking our room, they usually have the food table there, cake, etc.

If you bring the lanterns they set that up for you as long as you give them instructions on how to do them, and they don't charge you extra for that! I had kind of the same set up in one area... I'm so mad I didn't get pictures but this is the inspiration. I had about 2 dozen different sizes paper lanterns and paper poms that hang the same as the flowers shown.

I did have my reception at the Castaways, that was my requirement! We had 35 people all together and it was perfect, the Castaways is not so big and there are portions of the restaurant where you can choose to have them set up your reception... The pictures above is the spot that is closest to the ocean, I had mine in the middle section of the restaurant. It was a VERY windy night so we had them bring down the divider, kinda like a wall to sort of cover us a bit from the wind. I hope that made sense!

I had my cocktail hour at the carnival terrace, if you have a party of 50 or more I think that spot would be too small. It's basically overlooking the fountains... http://jasmineandryan2012.shutterfly.com/pictures/963#962 http://jasmineandryan2012.shutterfly.com/pictures/963#961 http://jasmineandryan2012.shutterfly.com/pictures/88 http://jasmineandryan2012.shutterfly.com/pictures/88#85

Good! I was very surprised! He also took the time to ask how everyone's name in our party is pronounced before he did the introduction, also a nice surprise

The DJ costed us $742.40 including taxes, the equipment, lighing and a smoke machine the we paid $150 for the MC. An extra hour of the DJ and MC services is an additional $200 (not sure if you were extending). So over all we saved money, DJ Mannia quoted us $1250 for 4 hours with the similar lighting that I requested at the resort and we would've paid another $300 on top of that if we stuck with him.

I thought the same as well but found out when I got there that the MC and DJ are 2 different people so you pay $300 for them to get in. I actually opted for the resort DJ and MC, I did this because we extended the reception for an extra hour and like you we just couldn't add on the extra vendor fee on top of the extra fee we had to pay for the extented hour. We had a playlist that's COMPLETELY spelled out for them that there really was no way they could mess it up! We had the time frames listed and the order of how we wanted to be introduced and the song to play for every item. So that would help out a lot. Over all they were good, the MC even made some pretty good suggestions and we had a great time. For the location, they do verify everything once you get there, I was given the same "noted" thing from Mercy but I emailed her immediately and told her that if she cannot confirm for me the reception location there would be a problem because one of the main reasons I booked my wedding there was because I fell in love with the Castaways restaurant. So maybe try to get her to confirm it before you arrive that way when you get there you can have a print out of her confirming your location and she can follow through with it

Hey Skygirl, Like I said before when we were there the resort was so overbooked, we actually didn't get a suite because of this! But we were at the "preferred" side of the Punta Cana Buildings, which is the building closest to the secrets resort... This ofcourse should not matter too much if you are lucky enough to have all your guests stay at the Now, but something to keep in mind incase you are put in that situation. Ask for the 4th floor! That's was our floor, when people walk you can hear a lot of echos because of the make of the building so I highly recommend being on the top floor. All the other rooms (tropical or pool) would be pretty close, it's kinda like a block or 2 from the suites, AS LONG AS YOU'RE IN THE SAME BUILDING. If not though I promise it's not that big of a deal, if they end up on the Bavaro buildings it'll just be on the other side of the main pool and still really not all that far. If you go on the Now website you can see from the map what I'm talking about, and it'll give you an idea of where things are. Let me know if I can help with anything else