maridr2012

I'm loving this dress. Its simple, sweet, and elegant. I sooo want to post a pic of my dress but I'm waiting until wedding is done before I post. Congrats on picking a dress, its gorgeous! Happy planning! Next step...bridesmaids dresses!

Ohhhh!!! I love sharing the story of how we met because although "how you met" sometimes can be so cheesy, I truly love our story. We met 6 years ago. I went to a local Gap store near my job during my lunch break on a quest to buy an accessory of some sort - a pin or brooch or something to cover up a small rip on a blazer I was wearing that day because I'd made a rip in it as I was dashing to my car that morning and it'd caught on a fence. An employee (now my FI) kept asking me if he could help, he kept following me around the store and I was in such a rush and on a mission I didn't want to be bothered. I finally turned to tell him to leave me alone and I noticed how handsome he was and I realized he was kinda hitting on me. We made some small talk and eventually started to flirt. When he rang up by purchase a few minutes later he apparently made a mental note of the employee badge I was working. He thanked me for my purchase and told her he'd be sending me something soon...I figured he'd be emailing me a discount coupon or something. I thanked him and left to go back to the office. About an hour later back at the office, my phone rang, and it was the front desk telling me there was a flower delivery. It wasn't my birthday, there was no special occasion, I was confused. I went to the front desk to see what this could possibly be about (maybe they called the wrong person?) and was handed a bouquet of yellow roses with a card attached that read, "Under the circumstances today I didn't get a chance to really talk with you, but I'd like to take you out to dinner and talk more" (with name and phone #). What a way to win a girl over...roses delivered within an hour of meeting! I called to thank him, and we scheduled our first date for a few days later.

LOL! I am giggling and elated to know I'm not the only bride to be thinking about this issue. I have been practicing my soon to be married surname since we got engaged. I just cant find a way to sign it in cursive where it looks right, and every time I try I misspell what will be my married surname! I told FI I would be comfortable with hyphenating my last name but he's not having it. My maiden name is only 5 characters, and mind you, I'm hispanic, he's italian-polish with a surname that is 8 characters long. So...I'm going from Reyes, to Gudewicz. Not to mention that his last name ALWAYS gets mis-pronounced, and I do NOT look Polish. Wanna know a little secret? I went as far as getting a new email account with my new last name because I really thought my new name would be be ever so popular and wouldn't be available as an email address by the time we get married. As if!!! LOL. I'm laughing at my craziness right now.

Hmmm. Ok I was in the same situation as you. I have 11 uncles and aunts, 37+ first cousins, and too many 2nd and 3rd cousins to count. That's on my dad's side alone, and they're all here in the U.S., in NYC, and most live within a 15 block radius of one another. My mom's family all live in Dominican Republic, where we are getting married (thankfully they live on the other side of the country and I'm not close with them at all). So...I felt completely obligated to invite every single aunt/uncle from my dad's side since I live in the NYC area and see them often, and at bare minimum 1st cousins which most are married, with kids. We simply couldn't afford it. We decided to go with a destination wedding because it was always my dream and I could also honor my parents in some way by having it in their homeland, and obviously it would be more affordable. My dad told me I HAD to invite every single aunt/uncle with their families from his side, even despite the knowledge most couldn't attend due to finances/work schedules/child care. You know what? I also had to make the hard decisions and decided, NOPE. I'm only inviting those that I'm truly close with, and if they go, great, if not, then whatever. If they want to celebrate my marriage and wish me well, they can send a card with well wishes or give me & FI a warm hug to congratulate us. I don't even expect a gift, it's completely fine. My dad isn't very happy with my decision, but we are paying for our own wedding and we have all the say in the decisions made. I also knew I would be considered hoity-toity but I just couldn't let that weigh me down. Besides..invitations can be expensive, so why would I want to pay the extra invitation $'s on people I know for a fact are not going? My FI thinks I'm not nice by not inviting my extended family. I just tell him if he wants them there than he can pay for it from his half of the budget, lol. By the way, I'm sadly not inviting most of my mom's family. I'm only inviting 1 of her sisters which she talks to frequently and my cousin (the sister's daughter) and their respective spouses. I doubt that they'll be able to make it because it will be very expensive. This is also a bit hard-nosed of me, but I didn't want to spend my entire wedding by awkardly making conversation with a bunch of people I haven't seen in over 15 years...not to mention the language barrier since they only speak spanish and most of my guests only speak english. AWKWARD! lol. Good luck!

I struggled with this issue. I don't have any sisters of my own, and I really wanted to keep the bridal party to a few people - I was comfortable with 3. My FI has 2 sisters. I knew I'd have 2 of my best friends, and I figured 1 of his sisters. The other sister I wasn't going to ask because her son (his nephew) would be ring bearer. But, I knew it would cause a huge fallout with his Italian-American family. I didn't want to start our marriage and my entering their family with hard feelings, so I decided to have BOTH sisters. Now...I have 3 brothers, but I knew only 1 can realistically attend our destination wedding. So...I told FI he had to make my 1 brother a groomsmen, and to balance the 2 from his party, he also had to have 1 of my best guy friends also in his groomsmen. Fair is fair..he agreed, and it's worked out well. We now have 4 bridesmaids, and get this...7 groomsmen...and a ring bearer. LOL. Whatevs. It's what made him happy, and I'm cool with it, so that's all that matters.

Hello again. Just a little tip, if you choose a non-preferred vendor vendor you can get around the $1,000 fee by booking them a room, and having them attend your wedding as a "guest". (wink wink!). You'd still be paying some money, but it won't be the whopping $1,000 fee! By the way, I got word back from my travel agent, and they are now offering me the incentive package. So excited! I know I'll have more than enough rooms to get the comp rooms. Since it's a max of 3 rooms, I'm using it for my own room, my parents, and his parents. But I'm not telling them anything about it, just in case for some crazy reason it falls through and plus I'd like it to be a little surprise for them. Yay!

Hi Oct2012 Bride. If you can't do the site visit, don't worry about it. Honestly, you have nothing to worry about! I guess the major advantage of doing it is that you can apply most of your cost of the visit to your actual wedding and you get to see first-hand some weddings and how the resort operates and visualize your event..but if you get there 2 or 3 days before your wedding, AND you do a "power-planning session" phonecall with the planner from Miami 3 months prior, (which PPC does this, just ask if it hasn't been mentioned to you), you''ll be in great shape for your big day! I've been having calls about every 2 weeks with my contact in Miami office - Veronica. By the way, I asked her about the incentive package for comp rooms and she directed me to my travel agent. I'm a bit frustrated with having to learn of these incentives through 3rd parties (instead of hearing about it thru PPC or my travel agent), but I want to give them the opportunity to clear that matter up..so I'm waiting now on a response from my travel agent. Who are you using for travel? I found PPC and coordinating all my travel thru DestinationWeddings.com. I am booking Huellas Del Caribe (HDC). I liked their style of photography the most, and they seem to get great reviews. I'll have to pay $120 per person for external vendors (photographer AND videographer), but I'm okay with it because I wasn't so crazy about PPC's preferred photographer on-site - Arrecife. Keep in mind, if you booked your wedding in January 2012 forward, you will need to pay something like $1,000 for a non-preferred vendor. I booked my wedding in Dec 2011 so thank God I don't have to do that! For dj, I booked RSE - which is 1 of 2 preferred dj vendors at PPC. I did do a registry, but I haven't published it yet on my wedding website because I need to delete a few items and add several more. My future SIL recently got married and she's been giving me great advice. She suggested I register at 3 places: Crate & Barrel (which I love) for entertaining & decorative items, Bed Bath & Beyond for everyday staple items - plus they always have so many discount coupons so most guests will probably go there & use the discounts, and lastly Macy's, for whatever they dont have at the other 2 and for fine china. I think my bridal shower will be held in September, so I still have a few months to edit my registries.

Hi Oct2012 Bride! Congrats on booking your wedding date! I'm getting married on Nov 9th of this year. Thanks for sharing the info on the incentives regarding comp nights! I had no idea they were doing this. I've been working with Veronica in the Miami office and she has not mentioned this to me; the only thing she mentioned was offering a comp 1-hour cocktail welcome party for all of my guests but that was depending upon how many rooms are booked, which we don't know the exact # yet but I we are estimating about 30 rooms booked for a minimum of 3 nights each...they're getting alot of business from us so I'm going to email Veronica right away about this! Regarding the site insepction, I did that back in December. If you don't mind, I have a few tips for you. Go ahead and book it, but prior to arriving I highly suggest placing a call to the actual hotel itself to confirm they know you will be there for a Love at First Site wedding site inspection. It'll be a long-distance international call, but it's worth it. I booked it with my wedding planner and I know for a fact she communicated this to them weeks before I arrived (she forwarded the emails where she advised them), yet when I arrived they had no idea I was there on a wedding site visit. I had to wait 5 hours before getting into a room which is ridiculous to me - I understand checkin isnt until 3 pm...but really...I arrived at noon and wasn't given a room until 5 pm! I raised a stink about this and they upgraded me to a Royal room. Also, they did not provide me with a welcome basket with champagne OR vouchers/coupons for the spa as indicated on the package. I did end up getting those only after I asked to speak to the Guest Services Manager..they sent it up on the 2nd night. Also, after I met with Miguelina (the WC on site) and discussed meal tastings and selected what we wanted to taste, she told us to go to the Gabi restaurant which is where we would be served for the tasting. We got there, and again, nobody knew who we were or anything about a meal tasting. I asked them to call Miguelina directly and sort it out with her (at this point I was fuming) and she immediately came down and quickly re-arranged for our tasting at Vento restaurant. This was not Miguelina's fault...but clearly there are some communication issues internally at the resort. So... make sure you re-confirm everything before you arrive. Lastly, regarding the meal tasting, see if they will allow you to do a tasting of the buffet options AND the plated menu options. I didn't do that and now wish I had because the plated menu is different than the buffet. We only tasted plated menu which had delicious options, and that's what we are going with, but looking back I wish I had tasted buffet because maybe we would've opted to go with that. Hope this helps, and happy planning!

Yes, I visited in December. I actually visited PPC and 3 other resorts to compare, and rest assured that PPC is the best of all to get married at! While I was there I realized these folks can do just about anything to accomodate your needs. The food is phenomenal. We're going with a plated menu reception in one of the terraces behind the lobby which accomodates about 70 people but I'll need to pay extra for fans because it can get a little warm there. I liked that space because it gives a more elegant feel. I originally wanted the pool are area reception, but they will only do buffet menu since there aren't any kitchens nearby to do plated. I liked the plated menu more, I tasted the food and I liked it better than buffet. Also, it seemed that almost every night there was a reception in the pool area so you'll be able to see a few weddings before your own to get a feel of what it's really like. The pool area is def more laid-back. I didn't see any beach weddings take place - every wedding I saw was a gazebo ceremony, pool reception during my 3 day stay. is a Make sure you give a rooming list to the wedding coordinator there a few weeks before your arrival, and let them know you wish to be upgraded (if you booked a standard room for yourself). I am personally just booking a standard room, but am pretty sure they will upgrade me and I'm requesting the Reserve instead of Royal rooms. I stayed in the Royal rooms, and they're nice but just not my personal taste. I wasn't crazy about the decor, and frankly a bit small. The Reserve is supposed to be for families, but its the newest section of the resort and the rooms are just gorgeous. Plus, it gives you an your fiancee a bit of privacy away from all of your guests (unless they're staying in the Reserve too). It's a bit further away from the beach, but it's not that far of a walk and the trolley comes by every few minutes anyway. Regarding your actual reception, all of the packages are for a 3 hour reception, and honestly that's all you'll need. Immediately after the reception, every wedding party I saw moved over to the main lobby to continue the partying with other hotel patrons at 10 pm. They have a live band come in every night so there is plenty of dancing, that is for an hour, and then at 11 pm everyone moves over to the disco also in the lobby area, called Fuego. You'll be partying with other hotel patrons, but its alot of fun! If you and your guests get late-night munchies there is only 1 restaurant that is opened until about 2 am if I recall correctly, I think it's the Italian restaurant (the name escapes me right now). Late night room service food is limited and its ok...I wasn't overly-thrilled with it but then again I prob shouldn't be eating at 1 am anyways, lol. I'm doing a rehearsal dinner only for the wedding attendants and our immediate family total of 30 people. We are having 60+ people attend our wedding and it wouldve been too costly to have a privatized rehearsal dinner. They will allow you to make a dinner reservation for up to like 20 people, and then anything over that they charge a small fee of like $10. It's a semi-private dinner which means they will select a restaurant for you (you can request a particular restaurant you wish but not guaranteed). They will give you a pre-selected menu and section off your dinner area for you & your guests for 90 minutes. I think that's plenty of time for a rehearsal dinner. I am in the process of negotiating a comp welcome cocktail party for all of my guests (in lieu of a welcome dinner party). it will depend on how many rooms are booked which I won't know for several more months, but I think we'll get it since we will have over 30 rooms booked : ) Are you having a rehearsal dinner or a welcome dinner/cocktail party? Not sure what info specifically you're looking for, so just ask away and I'm more than happy to answer.

Oh good! Glad to see someone else thinks its worthwhile. I see you're getting married in April. I'll be very interested in seeing your feedback on your wedding and some pics! I'm getting married on November 9th, and although I've already visited the resort for a site visit I'm always looking for other's take on everything there for any watchouts or tips! : )

Hi ladies. Have any of you which have gotten married @ PPC booked and used the bridal suite? I'm considering renting it so me and the bridesmaids and both moms can get ready in. Is it worthwhile paying for it? There will be 7 of us, and I really don't want to have everyone pile into my room to get ready...I'll be frazzled enough and will end up having a meltdown with everyone in my face, lol. Also a little nervous of having my hair and makeup done then going back to room and running into anyone or having hair frizz or makeup melt. LOL. Can you tell I'm a worry-wart? Any tips and pics of the bridal suite you have would be greatly appreciated!

Wow that is an amazing dress and you are stunning in it! I'm also getting married at PPC in November 2012. May I ask who ur photographer was? I'm searching for 1 now and I really like how he captured ur special day!

Hi ladies! I just found this forum and am so excited to start reading posts and seeing pics. Im getting married in November 2012 in Punta Cana (Paradisus Punta Cana), but I'm trying to convince my fiancee to honeymoon in La Romana, which is only 2 hrs away. He wants to travel to another island because we'll already have been in Punta Cana for a week and that area unfortunately doesnt offer alot outside of the resorts. However, La Romana from what I understand, is a different story! And my point is why spend $ on another flight when we can have a fabulous time and spend time by ourselves only a few hours away by car! So...the beauty of it all is, his parents have very generously offered to pay for our honeymoon by way of their timeshares. They have an RCI timeshare which has Dreams La Romana listed as one of its properties..perfect! Has anyone on this forum honeymooned at Dreams La Romana? Can you share your experience here, and the activities offered in the resort and outside of it? I think we will only go for 5 days (although the timeshare is for a full 7 days), I will need a few days after the honeymoon to come home, unpack, laundry, get back into the routine of things etc. before getting right back into work on Monday. Any pics or feedback from you gals would be very greatly appreciated!

All: I'm not black, I'm Dominican but don't have that "good" hair by any means. My hair is coarse, kinky, and very curly..I have to majorly load alot of products to keep it in check when it's not blown out straight which I try to get done 1x weekly at a Domincan salon. And yes...Dominicans can do a blow-out like nobody's business! Anyway, I'm getting married in Punta Cana and have been struggling with what to do with my hair for the big day. I get Brazilian keratins done every 4 months which is far less damage than relaxer and it keeps your hair silky smooth and straight and greatly reduces frizziness, especially around the edges. BUT going in the ocean salt water or chlorine pool will strip it out immediately. My hairdresser suggested to me to not do a keratin touch up before the wedding since it'll strip out in ocean/pool, and clearly I'm not going to forbid myself from taking a dip for 2 weeks while I'm there! She suggested I go to a local salon outside the resort and get a blow out which shouldn't be more than $20 (much cheaper than the resort salon blowout fee $65), and since it's in DR I already know the outside salon will do a good job. Ask the stylist to wrap my hair in a doobie to keep it straight, sleep on it with a silk scarf, and the next day for the wedding have the resort stylist curl my hair with a curling iron and do a side pony tail with curls coming out. It's cute, modern, and will keep my top and edges smooth, and I won't need to worry about frizziness in the ponytail since it'll be all curled anyway. I loved the idea! My hair length is down my back - not super long but enough. So to do this you'll need enough length, but it's a great option. Hope this helps some of you!

@ MeshaGraves: ur posts are ridiculous and everyone is quite annoyed by it! Please stop! Ur quickly becoming the most hates bride, just suck it up and pay the fee already!

Agreed. keep the train, it looks beautiful as you're walking down the aisle and makes for great pics! you can always do a tiny bustle. My dress only has a sweep train, and i'm bustling that immediately after the ceremony.

Or...perhaps you could book your photographer a room for the night and have them as a "guest" at your wedding. This way you could get around the non-preferred vendor fee?

Ladies, I can't tell you how much ISH I've gotten from my FIL's about us not doing a group contract for all of the relatives and close friends. Are they out of their minds?!!! Despite me explaining OVER and over that my FI and I just cant take on the financial liability of people not paying the required deposit within 30 days of the contract being signed or else we get stuck paying for it, they just dont seem to get it, or care. They feel we should take a leap of faith that these people will in fact pay their deposit, or worse yet...want us to collect the deposit from them and then do the group contract so we dont have to worry about it later. Like really? I'm not a bill collector. I'm an effin' bride trying to plan a destination wedding...I have my hands full! So I finally told them we would only do the group contract for our parents and bridal party only. And, if anyone else wants to go in on a group contract, they can agree amongst themselves (we're all adults) to do a group contract on their own by contacting the travel agent, select 1 or 2 people to offer up their credit card as financial liability and pay their deposits in a timely manner. That pretty much quieted them down. LOL. Once people realize that its about $200 of liability for each room (my TA advised $100 per person in room for group contract), with a minimum of 10 rooms...people learn very quickly to either shut up or do it on their own. Quote: Originally Posted by Cateyedcutie We plan to invite up to 150 guests, but I only plan to commit to booking 10 rooms on our TA contract. I don't want to end up paying for rooms no one stays in when everyone uses the cost of attending as an excuse to flake on us. Between us, our bridal party, and our immediate family, we should be able to meet/surpass that booking requirement. Better safe than sorry.

It really is too bad that they are doing this ridiculous $1,000 upcharge to non-preferred vendors. Of course the vendors are going to upcharge the couples because of this! Paradisus was my favorite of all the resorts I visited when doing wedding site inspections. Melia is also owned by the same company, and their property is also beautiful. I'd suggest to all of you who writing off PPC to look into a policy change at Melia as well and see if it applies there too. If they don't have the same policy, you may want to consider them. Best of luck!

Hey ladies! I forgot to reply regarding the dress I've decided on. Unfortunately I can't publish the designer or style of the dress on this site... I have a nagging feeling that a certain someone who shall we say, is a "frenemy", is also on this site and/or checks it and there's no way I'm letting her on to know what I'm wearing. I know...sounds very childish. But, I just can't take the risk. I will tell you though that it is off-white, tafetta, with a sweetheart strapless neckline and bias cut ruffles at the bottom with a mermaid style. And....today I went to the NJ boutique for the trunk show and put the deposit down! So, it is officially my dress now! I have to say I can't believe what a good deal I got. The dress is from the designer's spring 2012 collection and is retail price $2,400. Since I placed my order today, I got it for $1,900, NO sales tax as NJ doesnt charge that, and alterations will be $350. Grand total = $2,250. If I had purchased it at Kleinfelds in NYC, I wouldve paid $2,400 + $192 sales tax + $695 = $3,287. All in all, I'm saving over $1,000. I can't stop grinning ear to ear. So ladies...do your research and shop around for the best deal for the dress of your dreams! Search for trunk shows, and dont be afraid to ask for a deal on your dress. : )

Hey ladies. Went to Kleinfelds this weekend and I found my dress! It's so pretty and it is perfect for a destination wedding..the salesgirl was so happy I picked that one. However,I decided not to buy it. But not because I was unsure, it's because I'm being a savvy shopper instead. I live in NJ,and there is no sales tax on wedding dresses in NJ. PLUS, there's a great bridal boutique about 15min from my house highly recommended by a friend who purchased her dress there for her recent September wedding. The NJ boutique has a trunk show in a few weeks for my dress' designer which means about a 10% discount if I place my order at the trunk show, AND the alterations are about $200 less than Kleinfeld who charges $700 flat fee. So.....I think I'll be making out pretty well!! Yay : ) I'll be purchasing a dress in a few weeks but I can say my search is over!

Congratulations on a successful wedding! So glad to hear that you were happy with your special day @ PPC. Im getting married there on November 9th, and I'm knee-deep into planning now. I am really hoping that my FI and I get upgraded to the Reserve. We're booking a standard room for now, and are crossing our fingers that they upgrade us there. I know the Royal rooms are actually more expensive, but I liked the Reserve much more. Of course, it depends on availability, but no sense in paying the extra $ up front if they'll move us there for free. I was thinking about reserving the bridal suite the resort has at $500 for me and the bridesmaids to get ready. But I just felt $500 was a bit too much to pay if I only get the room for up to 3 hours, and if the Reserve room is big enough, I'd rather get dressed in that room, lol. Did you & your bridesmaids have your hair and makeup done by the stylists at the spa? Do you mind sharing what was the fee for their services and at what time you booked your appointment (e.g. 2 hours before the ceremony, 1 hour, etc.). I have 4 bridesmaids who I think I'll pay for their hair or makeup as a gift (whichever is less costly), PLUS my own mother and FMIL who will want to get done up as well. That makes 7 of us..and I want to make sure that we have enough time to get everyone done without a huge rush. Lastly, would you mind sharing who was your photographer and some feedback on their services? Thanks a bunch!

@ Elissae: That is a gorgeous dress!!! Very similar to the style that I'd like to get, mermaid or trumpet with lace AND ruffles. Could you share the designer and style name? I'm going to Kleinfeld's in NYC tomorrow with my mom to look for a dress! I am so excited, I booked the appointment 3 months ago. I don't think I'll make a purchase tomorrow, but I have a feeling that I'll def find something there since they have so many choices. At least when I am actually ready to make a purchase in late February I'll know exactly what I'm getting.

Thanks for the info on RSE! I just emailed them and am liking them on FB. @ Imazz: Thanks for the feedback on El Romantico! It confirms for me that the # of guests we plan on having will be way too much for that space. Maybe it'd be fine for a rehearsal dinner, but certainly not the reception.

@ CDC150: Thanks for that tip! I'm asking the Romance Department for that list right away!