LaurenP

Their email system isn't the best. We called every once in a while to make sure everything was ok, but other than the major things like getting the wedding date set, giving them your guest numbers and pick your meal, everything else gets sorted at the resort when you meet with Angela (you can change your meal at that time as well if you really want to) Oh...just remembered. Don't get the spa package add on or anything to the base wedding price. It's less expensive to get billed separately (suggestion from Angela). She was pretty good with telling us what was worth it and not worth it to add on. Also, just a reminder that only I believe 10 guests are covered in the base package, so you'll need to pay for the additional meals after that number (it's not much. For 45 guests total we still still did our entire wedding for less than $5k)

We chose from one of the set menus and they accommodated friends who had special requirements (allergies, vegetarians, etc.) with amazing dishes. One of the waiters actually made sure to point out to one of our guests what they could and couldn't eat from the desserts and kept an eye on them (coconut allergy). What were the different options that you have and I can let you know which one we chose (I can't remember off the top of my head now)

Most of my guests were from Toronto so it wasn't as huge of a issue for us. Our guests that came from out of town stayed overnight at one of the nearby hotels. It's something everyone will completely forget about once they get to the resort and see how beautiful it is there.

Looks like my last post was denied (I think) that included pictures. Will add them back in another post when I have a bit more time. We booked through itravel. We had originally booked Transat through them, but last minute (1 month prior to the wedding) they cancelled completely and the only option we had was move our wedding date (after our 45 guests had already booked the wedding off a year in advance and all invitations, and other items were printed with our wedding date on it) or find a new trip provider. After some pushing with itravel to resolve the issues they came through after I wrote a letter to Jonathan Carrol (President of itravel) and we worked out a deal with Air Canada vacations. Definitely a great trip provider to go through! Lounge access and first class seats, gorgeous rooms. Couldn't have asked for a better provider. They were very helpful on the flight as well with making sure my wedding dress didn't get crushed and let me hang it up in the FA cupboard.

We had 45 guests. We booked through itravel with air canada vacations. We had originally booked with Transat but they cancelled on us last minute (a few weeks before) and we had to scramble to find another travel operator going around the same time period for around the same price. Not sure if you can see these... This one is from a ceremony on the beach, I liked the gazebo better (where we had ours) http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2799/55/85/511459089/n511459089_1475713_890052.jpg Beach photo: http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v3095/32/56/517987361/n517987361_1763682_5868384.jpg Wedding dinner: http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2799/55/85/511459089/n511459089_1475561_3673088.jpg cake in background: http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2799/55/85/511459089/n511459089_1475576_6596224.jpg flowers and stuff http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2799/55/85/511459089/n511459089_1475492_7932030.jpg ceremony: http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v3066/226/116/640186570/n640186570_2127974_7473838.jpg

There are kings in every room. As for families, they would need to get a junior suite a believe which is a larger room. The rates are incredibly reasonable for the wedding packages, much less than you would ever pay for a wedding of the same quality back home. We didn't have any extra charges or surprises other than the surprise at how organized they were. ie. I wanted to walk down the isle to a specific song at a specific time, Angela (wedding coordinator at the resort) timed it perfectly and told each person when to go to make it all happen.

I'll work on getting some posted. One thing to remember is that it is permitted to be topless on the beach at CL and they can't restrict people from sitting in front of where your ceremony is going on. What we did (with suggestion from Angela) was to have some people go down in the morning (before chairs start getting reserved) and move all of them away from the picture view of where the ceremony is occurring (reduces the chance of having a topless woman/ or man in speedo walking behind your ceremony). Be prepared that most ppl will sit and watch your wedding from wherever you have moved the chairs to. I had a german man in a speedo taking pictures of our wedding (I still don't know what he was doing with them) including coming up the isle to get better shots (I don't know how he didn't make it into our video or any of our pictures) and ppl I didn't know crying from the sidelines.

We didn't have any issues at the airport. It was actually quite enjoyable from what I remember.

No one in my group went to the salon. We had my hair dresser do my hair back home and my sister watched and memorized how it was done so that she could recreate day of. The wedding that happened a few days before mine went to the salon and they ended up having to redo their hair. From what I've seen/heard, I would recommend not going to the salon to get your hair done unless you want it very very basic and down.

We were able to have my uncle do the ceremony and the judge agreed that he would witness the entire thing (sign the documents) so that it would be more personal. It would still be a legal ceremony with the judge from the dominican, you would just be providing someone to execute the spoken portion. It is probably just some confusion.

We were able to have my uncle do the ceremony and the judge agreed that he would witness the entire thing (sign the documents) so that it would be more personal. It would still be a legal ceremony with the judge from the dominican, you would just be providing someone to execute the spoken portion. It is probably just some confusion.

We had 47 guests total. The majority of your planning will happen when you get to the resort, don't stress yourself about trying to do everything in advance. You'll worry yourself out too much about not getting responses back in a timely manner or at all from the resort. When we met with Angela the day after we got to the resort we went through all of the details. The patio between the 2 restaurants is actual seating for one of them (I think don pablo but can't remember) so we requested to have that area reserved for us. Because of the size of the group, we had the middle of the patio to ourselves. They can do a lot for you once you're there, but won't promise anything over email.

I got married here April 17, 2009 and it was incredible. Our friends still talk about it. I can answer any questions people may have. We wanted a more meaningful ceremony so my uncle who is a minister back home did the ceremony and the judge was there to witness our documents. The ceremony was in the gazebo and our dinner was outside on the deck between the 2 restaurants by the pool which made it completely private without paying any additional fees. We also used their photographer. Angela was the coordinator for our wedding and was incredible once we were at the resort.