sunny55143

We aren't doing our wedding at the Jellyfish but we're having our rehearsal dinner there on April 20! I feel very well-informed for having followed this thread too! One week until we leave - yay!

Hi Oct 2012 Bride, If I recall, after we confirmed a date and time with Marlene, she had us pick a package and any extras we wanted. After you gave her those with an estimated guestlist number, she will make up an invoice for you and you pay 30% of that through a wire transfer. After that, it's pretty much been me emailing her with about 10 questions at a time and waiting for her to respond. When we met with her in person last September though, she was great. Super friendly and helpful. We are planning on having the ceremony in the garden area next to the Convention Center (where Bar Higuey is). The beach gazebo was very pretty but it is sorta right in the middle of the resort and I wanted a little more privacy. I can't remember what info you were looking for but if you PM me your email address and let me know what you were looking for, I will see if I have it. Sorry I haven't been very active on the boards - we are leaving in less than 3 weeks and I have tons of stuff still to do! I will try to answer any other questions you have.

Welcome Elycoco! When are you getting married? MinStoon, I'm not sure if the 30% deposit is mandatory, but that is also what Marlene told us and what we put down. You give her an estimate of the extras you want, along with the package and she will draft up an invoice and do the 30% off of that number. And obviously it will go toward whatever the final bill ends up being. There was no additional venue fee for having the reception at Bar Higuey - it is included in the Tangerine Sunset package. Also, the max for using it is 88 people, FYI. We leave 3 weeks from yesterday! Eek!

Hey everyone, So we FINALLY got a cost breakdown from Marlene for having 2 dinner options. She said it's $16 per plate for fish or beef, and $10 per plate for chicken. So, because we have our reception included in the Tangerine Sunset package, we would hypothetically decide that chicken is our main option and if 15 people wanted beef, we would pay an extra ($16 x 15) for them. It was confusing at first because I thought she wanted to charge us both $16 and $10 for everyone's meal which would have been ludicrous. We are most likely going to be doing the pesto chicken and beef tenderloin as our options. By the way, I think that there is a different menu to select from if you have a private reception included in your package vs. adding one. I have a doc from Marlene that is just for the "ballroom receptions" with no listed costs, and another one that has menu breakdowns for $40/$50/$60 a plate.

I wish I had found this thread earlier since we are almost 6 weeks out from the wedding (less than 6 weeks before we leave though!) While I was working toward losing that ubiquitous "last 5 lbs", my main goal was to tone up what I'm working with! My fiance and I decided to register for the Chicago Marathon last month so that's been a nice motivator in addition to the wedding. We've been going to the gym regularly since the beginning of the year, and while I've lost maybe 2-3 lbs, I definitely feel better and healthier...which is more important, right?? BTW, it frustrates me how much faster my fiance is able to build up endurance - I could be running more regularly than him but he can still run faster and longer! Boo! Happy exercising!

Happy Friday, Ladies! Just wanted to let you know that we spoke with Marlene on the phone this morning. Regarding the reception menu, she pushed back a lot on giving us an option for the main courses (it will be a problem if people want to start changing their choices, etc.) My fiance explained that he used to work in banquets and understood that it could be an issue but that people from the states are used to having an option for dinner and are aware that they will have to stick with their choice and won't be switching it around and making it difficult for the waitstaff. SO, finally she agreed that we could do two options...but there would be a fee associated with it. Of course! We have to send her our two choices for the main course and she will be able to tell us how much extra it would be. If you've been in contact with Jeanne, feel free to use us as precedence on that but be aware that Marlene very begrudgingly agreed. But, sort of a win, right? Yay?? Trivera, the draping in Bar Higuey was included in my decorations package (we are doing Tangerine Sunset), so I wasn't able to get a price. But she said they could also do floating candles in the pool around the reception area for $7 each - I am going to ask her to send pictures of those. Hope that was helpful!

Thanks for the review, trivera, and welcome back! Sounds like we had VERY similar experiences down there, especially the rental car experience and crazy driving. We were using a cartoon-y map to get around too and missing turns all over the place, but definitely got to see how charming PC is outside of the resorts. I don't remember having to pay the $20 on the way out, but we definitely included the $10 entry fee on our website and our welcome packet. You mentioned that you have the pay extra to have the draping decor at Bar Higuey - is that because it's not included in your wedding package, or is that extra no matter what? Did they have a catalog of pictures for you to look at? Marlene keeps promising one and I have yet to see it. Are we allowed to "decorate" that pool in Bar Higuey? (flower petals, floating candles, etc.) That SUCKS that you weren't able to get anywhere with them on the reception menu options. We actually just set up a phone call with Marlene this Friday with that specific purpose in mind. Maybe we can work on her a little more. What are wish lanterns? Are they those white tubes you light inside and release into the sky? Sorry they won't let you do those. I would suggest sparklers but I've read elsewhere on this forum that some DR resorts don't allow those either, plus you aren't supposed to travel with them. What about bubbles, streamers...? Not very original. I would love to see your pictures, as it was dark for most of our tour through the property. Have you uploaded them to a photo sharing site? Can you PM me with that info? Thanks! Glad you are still all in for Barcelo after the visit!

The boat can come pick you up at your resort?? That would be awesome - our resort actually has a pier on the beach. So you didn't use the bus service, heavenone?

Alex, Love your dress! Is that beading around your waist sewn into the dress or is it a separate sash? The back of my dress also has a lace-up corset and I want to do a colored sash but am concerned it would look weird with the ribbon from the corset hanging down. Thanks!

Thanks for your suggestion, Stina. I was looking for a cobalt/royal blue strappy heel. I'm just hoping to stumble across a pair that I like!

Do you ladies think that it would be weird to get these red shoes for the wedding when our colors are blue? I totally want to wear blue shoes but am having trouble finding ones that I like!

<shaking my fist> Argh! I stumbled across this thread today and despite having many other wedding things I could be working on, I decided to spend some time on a logo for us. My samples are pretty simple compared to others, which is okay, because I'm only really planning to use logos on some OOT bag swag (koozies, plastic cups, and tote bags) and some printed stuff (programs and welcome letter). I wanted something that could be simplified to just the chairs for the OOT stuff (don't really think people want stuff that has our names all over it)...feedback much appreciated! Thanks!

I read somewhere on here that it's 72 business hours, and that Saturday counts as a business day in the DR, but the day you get down there doesn't count. Don't quote me though! I can't handle that responsibility! I bet it's in a thread somewhere in the DR weddings forum...

cnd29, I've heard that you have to be in the DR for 72 hours before you can get legally married.

For any ladies who have already used La Barcaza - how long did it take to get everyone on board? I know it depends on how large the group is, but I'm just wondering if it was a fairly quick process? Thanks!

Hello again ladies, Just wanted to let you guys know about a couple of hidden costs that I have uncovered in my most recent emails with Marlene. Our package (Tangerine Sunset) includes a music trio for an hour for the ceremony. I asked Marlene if we could have the trio play after the ceremony during the cocktail hour and play our own music during the ceremony. She said we could but we'd have to pay $250 for a music system which includes a microphone. This is not explicitly listed in their price list and I sorta assumed something like that would be included for the ceremony (silly me). I'm trying to find out from her if a microphone will be necessary (I imagine it would be) for people to hear us, so that will probably be some extra $$ we weren't planning to spend. The other thing is that if you want chairs other than the covered ones with colored sashes that they show in their pictures, they have Tiffany chairs and white folding chairs. However, they cost $5.50 and $4.00 a piece, respectively. I know this is a fairly common practice among the resorts but in initial emails with Marlene, she only stated that they can do different chairs but didn't say there was an extra cost associated with that. I was hoping to do Tiffany chairs but I'm not paying an $300+ for them! Anyway, just wanted to let you guys know (and sorta vent!). Triviera, are you getting ready for your site visit or have you already gone? Can't wait to hear what you think!

To all the ladies who have already gotten married at Jellyfish - did any of you do a photo slideshow? We are having our rehearsal dinner at Jellyfish in April and I wanted to know if the setup there permitted a slideshow to be projected somewhere away from the main eating area. I would prefer to not have a slideshow that is a formal part of the evening, rather, allow guests to mill around and check it out on their own. Thank you!

This may be a dumb question, but just to clarify, we don't actually bring our ORIGINAL birth certificates down to the DR with us, correct? Just the translated ones from the consulate? I am planning on going to the Chicago consulate to get all the translation/legalization paperwork done. Also, what is this Apostille thing with the birth certificate? Thanks!

Sorry for the confusion, we are doing welcome cocktails on the roof terrace (I think Marlene calls it the Chill Out Roof Top the Wednesday before the wedding - it's the first official wedding event we have planned for guests. We're trying to sort that out right now because Marlene says that there is a children's show in the theater at 8pm so we should start the welcome cocktails at 7. With a lot of people getting in that day and 7pm being prime dinner time, we are looking at other location options...which sucks bc I really want to do something on that deck. I guess we could still hang out there "unofficially". Since our ceremony is in the garden area next to the convention center/Bar Higuey, I think our actual wedding cocktail hour will just be in the same area. The pier looks really awesome for a ceremony! If no one else is unexpectedly going to come we might be able to do that too!

Nope, we didn't have to pay extra for Bar Higuey, with the Tangerine Sunset package. I'm not sure about extra fees for other locations. I would imagine if Bar Higuey doesn't have one, others don't either. Although, when we were considering having the rehearsal dinner at one of the restaurants, there was a charge if you wanted to whole restaurant to yourself, as opposed to having just an area reserved for your group. But Marlene said that charge included food, drinks, and service - so I'm not sure how that works with the actual wedding reception. I bet those locations are included for the wedding reception, but you would have to pay a location fee if you wanted it for some other event (for example, we are gonna do welcome cocktails on the Wednesday before the wedding on the roof terrace and there is a charge associated with that). Let me know how it goes with discussing the food options - if you are successful then I might have to cite you as an example!