maridr2012

Oh you're Dominican? So am I! haha..great minds think alike. I also wanted to have my wedding there for that very same reason. My family all live in NYC (Washington Heights, that's where I'm from too, now I live in NJ) and I refused to have a NYC wedding as it would be ridiculously expensive with my huge family (11 uncles & aunts, each has 3-4 kids, can you imagine all those people?!). And, my FI's is Italian-American so I thought it'd be a nice way to share my culture with my in-laws. I totally agree with you on the whole beach starfish theme. It's like, ok..we get it...we're at the beach, enough with the starfish beach theme, lol! I did end up caving in and am adding just a few elements of beach theme for my wedding though. Since we're getting married on the beach gazebo overlooking the water, I felt it was only appropriate. I didn't go overboard though. My Save the Dates were a really pretty postcard with a palm tree in the background. My invitations were really elegant - they had an embossed palm tree on a cream heavy paper. My escort cards are sand dollars, and the escort card table will have a few starfishes on it. My cake table will have some seashells on it, and the OOT bags which are doubling as favors are nice large canvas beachbags - but I didn't go to the extent of putting beachy stuff in it or stickering it with starfish etc, lol. But thats about as beachy I got. I didn't go overkill with it for the same reasons as you. ; )

Have you done an on-site visit? I went back in December, and honestly - this is my own personal opinion, I saw the Gabi Club restaurant. It's pretty, don't get me wrong. But I didn't feel it was worth spending $9k over. That $9k or whatever it is does include your meal, but as far as decoration etc. its all extra. Also, you would need a few extra things in this space, such as a dance floor which is like $450, and you also need to find out from what are their time restrictions as some of the spaces on the property dont allow receptions to go past a certain time due to the proximity to guest rooms. Alot of stuff to keep in mind. And also, depending on the # of guests you have, the Gabi Club is kinda weird for table arrangement in my opinion. Its a restaurant as you know, so your tables won't really be all close together in tables of 8 - at least I dont think so. And this is one of the areas you would have to pay for linens. What is it about Gabi Club you liked so much if you dont mind me asking? What is the intimacy of it since its far away from everything else? I know it is beautiful : ) I think I mentioned before, we have 50-something people going, and wanted something a little bit more private for our group, yet not completely outdoors for fear of inclement weather - the last thing I wanted to do was have to worry about a backup space in case of rain. We are having our reception in the Convention Terrace. You can see the pics of that space in the Picasa album I shared.

LOL I know what you mean by it being so stressful already. I've had quite a few gray hairs sprout since we started planning, not even kidding. But try not to worry too much. The fact that you're doing a DW is already so different and special than what traditional weddings are like, so your guests will be blown away with whatever you choose. I've heard the Jellyfish restaurant events are also beautiful. And I know its so cliche, but the day is really about you and your FI and the love that you both share. Once you have your budget in mind, you can start narrowing it down from there. Do you have the Calculator spreadsheet for PPC? I suggest that you reach out to the Romance Team and ask them for the Calculator spreadsheet so that way you can get a more realistic idea of what it will cost to do it there vs Jellyfish; and I'd imagine that the Jellyfish can provide you with something similar.

Hey ladies. The average cost of floral centerpieces is over $100. There are a few that they sent to me separately in a pdf that were like $60 or so, but I really didn't like them. I can't find that email its archived somewhere but I'm sure if you ask them to send it to you they would. I remember I picked one floral centerpiece and it was $180. I almost fell out of my chair. The one I ended up selecting it $105 + 16% tax (its #168 in the Centerpiece album). I settled on that one because I really wanted actual flowers and I liked the mix of roses and hydrangeas especially since my bouquet as well as my bridesmaid's bouquets are all roses. The orchids were just too expensive and everything else I either didn't like or was too costly. Like I said, roses seem to be one of the more budget-friendly options but yet still beautiful and don't look cheap. I have 7 tables that I need centerpieces for...so the costs add up quickly. My FI and I will be sitting at a sweetheart table, and in an effort to save a few bucks, we are NOT doing a centerpiece for our table. Instead, we are renting 2 vases from them (at $15 + tax each), and taking 2 of the bridesmaid's flowers after the reception entrance and putting them in the vases. That, along with a few candle tealights and votives that I'm bringing myself, as well as our filled sand ceremony vase, will be our table decor. They really charge you for everything. They're charging me $25 + tax for the sweetheart table, another $29 for the escort card table, $18 for the gift envelope holder (the little mailbox guests can put their cards with gift - usually cash/check in). It adds up quickly ladies..so be prepared. The tough thing with the flowers is you have to pick the centerpiece you're interested in and then ask them for a quote. It'd be so much easier if they provided a cost for each one ahead of time so that way you can filter out what's in your price range. I pointed this out to them and they said they have to get quotes each time because the prices changed based on the season, and because alot of the flowers they need to import it so it can vary from one month to another based on commodities. WHATEVS. Regarding the decor in the packages, I selected the Aqua package b/c we felt we would get the most out of it - with top shelf liquor, h'ors doeuvres, etc. I selected the Fantasy decor because I loved the simplicity and classic beautiful look of it. They will allow you to pick a different package's decor, but only if it's a cheaper package. For example, you can select the Aqua and decorate it with Fantasy like I did because the Fantasy pkg is cheaper, but you can keep all the things the Aqua pkg brings - chairs, bar selection, etc. Or, you can do Chill pkg with Fantasy decor. BUT, you CANNOT pick Fantasy package with Aqua decor, b/c the Aqua pkg is more expensive. Its kinda silly. And, also beware that if you choose to customize your decorations alot, e.g. do colored linens other than whats already included in your package OR as I've described above, you will be charged extra. The calculator sheet they gave me indicated it would be $150 to add color/linen to your decoration. YIKES. Not sure if that was per table, or what, but still..YIKES. So if you really want to customize your event with different linen colors, you may be better off bringing your own linens but also know they will charge you for setting it up, or you better have great bridesmaids that will set this up for you on the day of your event. Lastly, regarding privatizing your event..yes it will be expensive to privatize a restaurant. We considered also privatizing the Gabi Club...until we learned that in addition to the $9k fee, they will itemize EVERYTHING. I mean everything. You can't do a package when you privatize a space; they don't allow it. So, they will charge you for every chair, hors doeuvre, linen, drink, bow, flower, etc etc the list goes on and on...per person. Again, get ready for some big #s to add up if you choose to go that route.

Hi there. I think most of us brides on this site have dealt with the same or similar situations, including myself. And what you will find, is that most of those people will weed themselves out eventually when they realize what the costs will be to them, and you just need to have alot of patience. First, have your Save the Dates gone out yet? If they haven't, here is what I would suggest, send your Save the Dates only to those people who you know for sure, 100% you want to invite - e.g. your immediate families, your closest extended family & friends, and bridal party, and that's it. Those are the folks that you know for sure must be invited and need to book their flights/hotel sooner than others. Then, when you get ready to send out your invitations, create an A list, and a B list. Your A's are the same folks you sent the Save the Dates to, as well as other folks that you really want to invite - with a given RSVP date. When I sent mine out I did not ask where they would be staying, b/c I was hoping everyone would stay at our resort which we already negotiated group rates for..but of course you need to give people the option to stay where they want to. So my workaround to that was I had created a wedding website, and on the page for travel info, I typed a note telling folks where we would be staying at with rate info, AND letting them know if they wanted to stay at another resort we understood however there is a $X fee they would need to pay for a one day pass into our wedding resort. Thats it..I put the ownership on them. And, don't worry because most people get it..they know you're already paying for a per person fee for your ceremony/reception. I had a few folks that wanted to stay at another resort and when they told me I explained that was totally fine, but I also pointed out that between them paying for the 1 day pass (for my resort its almost $100 per person), PLUS a cab ride to my resort and back, and they would be missing out on all the group activities, they quickly changed their minds, lol. As far as your B list invitations - that would be for the folks that you will invite if you get enough declines from your A list. Obviously, the RSVP date for your A list has to be sooner than your B list, and you'll need 2 different RSVP dates. And if anyone gives you crap about not inviting them, explain as nicely as you can that you have a very tight budget, and are only able to invite your closest family and handful of friends. I got really worked up during the initial planning & invitation sending started and trust me it'll work itself out. ALOT of people will say they're coming, whether you invite them or not because everyone wants to feel included. But you will find that those people who you do NOT invite hush down the talk of travel booking when they realize they did not get an invitation..they figure it out and most are understanding and actually relieved. PS - You shouldn't feel its a tacky gesture to have guests that are staying at another resort pay for their own day passes. I think you'll find you will feel very differently once all your costs start adding up, lol. It all adds up very quickly, and $35 per person can make a difference in your budget. Good luck!

I made programs for my upcoming wedding. I made them myself (well with the help of my wonderful sister in law and mother in law), and they really were pretty easy to make. I bought Raffia fans from Orientaltrading.com, got some ribbon from Michaels and wrapped the handle of each fan in ribbon, used hot glue to keep it in place. I also purchased silk orchids from Michaels which I pulled the bud off from the stems (they just popped right off), and hot glued that onto the base of the handle. I designed a simple program on Microsoft Word, printed them up on pearlized paper, and use glue dots to affix them to a pretty colorful cardstock paper, and hot glued that onto the fan. It was a piece of cake to do it all, and so much cheaper than buying pre-made fans. I basically just copied it from some sellers on Etsy - they go for about $4.50 - $5.00 each when you get them from Etsy vendors. I did it for about $2.00 each. It's adding a lovely touch to beach wedding we're having. Can't wait for them to be handed out to guests! By the way, I decided to do 1 program per couple, rather than one for every person.

EV: the rooms was pretty much it about PPC that was cheaper than PPR. The packages are the same. But just like you, I was trying to accommodate a price point that most of my guests could afford to pay, trying to please them. In the end, just like you, I had a lot of people (including 1 of my brothers) totally flake out despite us bending over backwards to make it less expensive. Honestly I would've loved to book my wedding at Zoetry Resort but they were high up there in price and are an adults only property; we have a few kids coming so we had to nixay Zoetry.. DR was always my first and only choice, because that's where my parents are from and I wanted to share a bit of my culture with my future in laws who are Italian American Had it not been for that, I def still would've done a DW, and would do it in Mexico where it seems like you can get some really great deals! But don't kick yourself over selecting PPR, it's such a beautiful property and very upscale. You made an excellent choice! And be glad you didn't go with NOW Larimar. Their food is horrible lol. I stayed there for 1 night and went to 3 of the like 5 restaurants they had and finally settled on a mediocre cheeseburger for dinner. Oddly enough though, their lunch buffet by the beach was pretty good lol! One of my best friends who is in my wedding party actually just came back last month from a wedding at Now Larimar. He was there for 5 days and said while the service was good, ceremony and reception was beautiful, the food was awful. I never even shared my experience with him so I knew it can't just be me. But I dunno, you'll see some posts raving about how wonderful it is so again it's all a matter of personal preference.

I ordered just a very few things from Carribbean Celebrations: The 3D aisle runner which is $75, white chinese lanterns $350, and a fresh towel station (basically its just little fresh white cool/wet towels in a basket with ribbon tied around each scented with fragrance like lavender, etc) - since our ceremony will be outdoors and guys always seem to get really hot n sweaty outdoors especially since they'll be wearing suits for a good 30 min outdoors, lol. That is $2.50 each. Then you have to add 16% to it all. I didnt do more extra decor stuff from Carribbean Celebrations b/c my package already included alot. I went with the Aqua Package - but am using the decor included in the Fantasy package (white and green) to keep it very simple and a classic romantic feel. Tisha..beware on the floral arrangements..this is BIG BUCKS. Have they sent you the link to the photo album you pick everything of? I've listed it below. This caught me by surprise..I couldnt believe how much they wanted for some of these VERY simple arrangements! And the killer is, they don't list the price of each of these floral arrangments...you have to ask them for a quote for each one you're interested in. Very frustrating. I really wanted flowers, I didnt want to do candles as centerpieces b/c my reception will be indoors (if it'd been outdoors candles wouldve been gorgeous, indoors I felt needed flowers). And of course..I must think I'm rich and refused to do carnations. So everything I wanted was super expensive. Here's a tip, if you get a floral centerpiece, try to stay away from orchids as they're the most expensive. Carnations and roses are the least expensive. I ended up choosing a centerpiece that has roses, some hydrangeas, and a few carnations..and I emphasized to them...only a FEW carnations, haha. http://picasaweb.google.com/romancebyparadisuspuntacana

The Paradisus Palma Real and Paradisus Punta Cana are NOT right next to each other, they're about 15 min away from each other. We visited back in Dec. 2011 to do site inspections, and went to Melia (who owns the Paradisus properties), Now Larimar, Ocean Sands & Blue, Paradisus Punta Cana, and Paradisus Palma Real. The PPR and Melia are right next to each other on a huge property. The Melia was nice, I wasnt crazy about the food, and night life was blah. The PPR was gorgeous..but for my personal taste, I found it a bit formal and alot of Europeans when I visited. When I compare it to PPC, aesthetically the PPR is def prettier, but I liked the more casual vibe of PPC. We ended up picking PPC for that reason, and the biggest factor was budget of course, lol. PPR was more expensive.

Yeah you have to keep a close eye on those invoices! Did they give you the calculator so you can see what your costs will be? I did that and it helped me alot to plan accordingly so there werent any big surprises. Yesterday I finished paying all the extras, and now the only thing left to pay is the photographer and the decorations from Carribbean Celebrations...then I'll be done, FINALLY! Although I'm really looking forward to the wedding, I almost can't wait for it to be over so I won't be so broke and have some money in our accounts again, lol. It's kinda scary when you're sending out big lump sum payments in the thousands!

Oh wow...that poor bride that tried to get the photographer in as a guest and ended up with only a few pics, that blows! You're right, its a suck-ass policy. Like I said, I was very lucky to get grandfathered in. But, I feel like you only have 1 wedding (well, hopefully, lol). And 5, 10, 20 yrs down the road, all you will have left to look at will be your photos and video. I feel like that is one thing that you really need to invest in and is well worth the cost. Obviously if you can find ways to make it more budget friendly, go for it! But...you've gotta be happy with your photographer! At least that's my take on it

TishaJules: I was able to get out of the $1,000 for external photographer only because I booked my wedding in 2011, prior to this policy which went into effect this year. I was lucky to get grandfathered in. But I'll tell you, I also haven't been overly impressed by Arrecife's work - I guess I just don't like their style for my personal preference. I was prepared to fly in my own photographer and pay for his flight and give him one of the free rooms I'm getting comp'd as a kickback and save a few bucks. By the way...ask your DestinationWeddings agent about that if she hasn't brought it up to you. My FI's brother works with a fabulous photographer who wouldve done it for free if we would pay his flight and room..and like i said, with the free room it wouldve turned out pretty cheap and he'd get a great vacation (I would've flown him in for the weekend). But I didn't have to go that route luckily Anyway, I have read posts by other brides saying that they were able to get out of the fee by making the photographer a "guest" at the wedding...meaning paying for that headcount and also paying for a day pass which is $120. It still works out cheaper than $1,000. Hope that works for you!

You're very welcome! Glad I can be of help; I was so lost when I started planning and this site helped me a ton, so whatever I learn I try to share with others. My travel coordinator at DestinationWeddings is Cindy Lorenz, and I've had a fabulous experience with her. She's very patient, and explains things thoroughly to myself and my guests. I decided to go with another photographer; I just preferred a different style of photography than what Arrecife offered and I was a bit wary of who would actually be taking my pics because they have representatives walking all over the resort with cameras in their hand offering to take pics of patrons - I wasn't sure if it would be these same people (clearly amateurs at best) taking my wedding pics or it would be a seasoned professional photographer, lol. So, I hired a company called Huellas Del Caribe - or HDC as they go by. They seem to have wonderful reviews on this site and other blogs I read, they have a Facebook page which you can become a fan of and see their pics, and overall their pricing was fair. But...there seem to be some brides that are equally as happy with Arrecife's work, so I guess its just a matter of personal preference. For the signature, you can just add it into your Profile Settings. Let me know if you have any other questions!

Hi ladies! My big day is only 30 days away! Everyone always says the time flies by, and OMG it really does, I cant believe its just around the corner and feel like there's still so much to do! Mainly my OOT bags at this point, but that takes alot of effort! Can someone please tell me what on earth is a signature song? I've narrowed down a ceremony prelude song (to play while guests are seated), bridal party entrace song, bride entrance, and recession song. But a signature song, huh? For reception, we still have a few things to figure out. We have a few options that we need to decide on - our entrance song, first dance, father daughter, and mother son song. But..on a positive note, I do have the cake cutting song selected, and final song for the night, lol!

My FI and I procrastinated for a long time, and with only 4 weeks left to the big day we finally went shopping this weekend and made our purchases : ) I had always told him that for my e-ring I wanted a very simple and classic solitaire, which he obliged. But, he always said he wanted to get me more "bling". Well, when he went shopping he was adamant about changing my e-ring setting to something with side stones. He's prob one of very few guys that would want their girl to get more diamonds, and I'm one of the few that don't want it! When the shop owner came over and told him he agreed with my choice of keeping it simple and it'd look more classy he relented. I chose a pave set eternity band at 1.25 ct to go with my 1.6 ct solitaire. I'm so in love with it I cant stop looking at pics!

Ladies, I'm getting married at PPC and am making my final pymt this week. They will charge the card you authorize them to charge but will send you an invoice prior to charging you, it won't come out of the blue. You will coordinate this with the Romance Team in Miami. They will send you an invoice for your chosen wedding pkg (Aqua, Chill or Fantasy) less the deposit you would have already paid. Then 45 days prior to your wedding they'll send you an invoice for any extras which you would by then have sorted out with the Romance Team in Miami during your Power Planning session and ongoing conversations with them. Here's a tip: when you py your Extras invoice, DON'T pay it on a credit card, there's an extra 3% fee for that. You can pay via a wire transfer which will cost $25, or send them a check or money order. Tisha: I also am doing travel thru DestinationWeddings.com, but they do NOT handle the actual wedding payments for you because they are a separate entity. They only handle your and your guests travel, that's it. They hand you over to the Romance Team in Miami that I mentioned above . Good luck and happy planning!

Hi, I'm getting married next month also at Paradisus Punta Cana so I hope some of my findings can help you. If you hire Pastor York or his assistant on your own you will need to pay whatever fee he charges PLUS the vendor pass fee they resort charges of $120 + 16% tax. If you hire him thru the Miami office their fee will be a bit higher but it will include the pass. I chose to just hire him thru the Miami office because I wanted to be sure if there was any fallout - i.e. last minute cancellation on the Pastor's end, etc. I would not be left scrambling and they would be responsible for finding someone else. It was about a $45 difference and I was okay with that for my piece of mind. He also isn't available for my Nov. 9th wedding, NOR is his assistant, so we had to hire a totally different pastor (which he referred us to) that only speaks Spanish. LOL. It's not a big deal for us because my family only speaks Spanish anyway, while my FI's family only speaks English, but one of the Paradisus WC's will translate the ceremony in English. Totally fine, as Pastor York would've done the ceremony in both languages anyway (he's bilingual). Regarding your photographer, you can bring in your own photographer and if you book him a room you won't have to pay the expensive external vendor fee. If you don't book your photographer a room, you will be forced to pay the external vendor fee. I can't remember what exactly it is but I want to say its something like $1,000? double check with the resort on it, but it's pretty high. Otherwise, if you don't want to do either, than you will need to use their preferred photographer which is onsite - Arrecife Photography. They have a Facbeook page and you can check out their work. I personally did not like their style of work so I've hired HDC Photography, and will be paying $120 per person for external vendor fee (total $240 b/c of photographer AND videographer). But, my fee is lower than what you would pay because I booked my wedding in 2011 and was grandfathered into their rates at that time. Good luck!

I visited several resorts in Punta Cana before deciding on PPC. I have to say the food was the best here and they have several restaurants to choose from, nightlife was good as they have a live band come in nightly in the lobby and then the disco opens at 11 pm or so. However, the cleanliness thing was a bit of an issue for me. I had booked a Royal room when I stayed there for 3 nights last December, and although the room was mostly clean, I couldn't get over the rug which was NOT clean. I found out they don't use vaccuums, so they sweep their rugs with a broom, which, as you can imagine, isn't the standard we use up north. That really was my only complaint regarding cleanliness and after I complained 3x and threatened to speak with the General Manager and take pictures and send to their corporate office, they sent up a housekeeper who spent 45 minutes cleaning it. Still wasn't perfect, but much better than it was when I walked in.

Hi there. I also was trying to hire Pastor York for my Nov 9th wedding -only 7 wks away now! He told me he was unavailable and his back-up Pastor Mark Lykins was also unavailable. He referred me to Pastor Torribio Francisco and that's who is now officiating my ceremony. The only small issue is Pastor Torribio only speaks Spanish and one of the WC will need to translate the ceremony in English. Works out okay for me as my parents and some relatives attending from my side only speak Spanish anyway, but my FI's family don't. So it'll truly be an inter-cultural affair lol. But perhaps Pastor Mark will be available for you big day. You'll need to coordinate that thru Pastor York. Good luck!

I finally ordered my veil yesterday!! Im so excited. My gown is a mermaid style and the skirt has ruffles on it but not alot of volume, so I felt I needed a bit of extra oomph for the bridal wow factor. Originally I wanted a chapel length veil for all the drama but after reading so many posts about how it gets tangled, pulls, etc with wind I took that option out. I then tried on a fingertip length veil and thrilled with it as I wanted a bit more drama so I thought I'd just do no veil and a pretty hair clip or something. Well, my friend referred me to a stylist she knows, who had me try on a similar gown to mine, with a waltz length veil - no beading, ribbon, etc. Just a simple cascading circular cut waltz length veil, with a beautiful floral rose hairclip - again no crystal, bling but big enough to make a statement...and its GORGEOUS! I absolutely love the look. I can't wait for the wedding in 8 weeks so I can finally see it all put together. Will share when I have pics from my wedding!

Most resorts will want you there at least 2 days prior to your wedding to go over final details, and they will do a rehearsal as well with their onsite WC. That's what my resort is doing. I have rehearsal on Thursday, and wedding is on Friday. You should check with your resort to confirm they do this as well.

Thx! Got it from Lord & Taylor website as its only available online. It's by Oleg Cassini.

I wanted to wear a light colored dress and preferably a maxi or something long and flowy. I found this dress and immediately fell in love with it, it's still light, but not all white as I wanted to save that for the wedding day, and it's festive. I'm planning on wearing my hair just like its shown in the pic - a high messy bun, with simple thin gold hoop earrings and minimal makeup as the dress is already enough with all that gold. The dress was delivered today and it fit perfectly! Just needs a bit of hemming, but nothing else needed. Now I'm waiting on a pair of gold flat thong sandals I ordered to go with this.