carori

Hi everyone! Sorry I took a long time to write, my wedding was on the 23rd of March! It was a great day for me, in sum it was what i wished and hoped for, even if it was not what i exactly planned! not to the last detail! I had 50 guests, I married in the Fishing Lodge Chapel, and my cocktail and reception were in the Ocean Lounge in Sanctuary. Some reflections that might be useful: Hair and make up: planned it well in time before having to put on your dress. Hair and make up took longer than I thought, not extremely but i planned it just with enough time to spare, this was a mistake; plan extra time for this, just to have time to spare and relax with a glass of champagne! I thought that the hair and make up should be done just in time so that it doesn't mess up, but that was wrong, the quality of the hair and make up was good (done by the resort's bride's stylist, Yesenia, she was great! I loved what she did!) so, i should have planned more time for this before having to put on the dress. As a result I was not relaxed and happy while my friends were helping me put on my dress, like i wished... I hope the photos don't show me being bossy with them! It was a great idea to try the hair and make up before the wedding, the first time i saw my make up i thought it was too much, but later I liked it. By the day of the wedding I already knew it was ok and i liked it, so no stress there at all! I underestimated the time for the transport of guests from Sanctuary to the Chapel and back. I trusted everyone would be on time and since I didn't want them to wait for a long time in the Chapel, again my just in time theory didn't work. Also, the wedding was from 4 to 4:30 and the photos from 4:30 to 5, and the cocktail from 5 to 6. This was not a good planning again! I should have made the cocktail at 5:30 or even at 6, to allow time for possible delays and logistics. I never heard the wedding musicians play before (piano and saxo), so I just took the risk for the music during the ceremony, which was OK. But not great! I wished i had just taped the music I wanted and put a sound system to be honest, it would have been cheaper and exactly like i wanted it. This didn't ruin anything, but it is something I would do different. The cocktail and reception in the Ocean Lounge looked great! It was really nice, my guests were all party people so we had really a great party, and it was all excellent. The music was great, we made a list of songs, and the DJ of the resort had it in advance, he really got all the songs right! This was perfect. The only songs we brought ourselves and gave to the DJ was the one for the first dance and the one for the bouquet cause I wanted specific songs and versions, this was a good idea too Another good idea was to have the speeches in the rehearsal dinner, the rehearsal dinner was great! full of really great speeches, but lengthy ones! so, I'm glad I didn't plan for them in the wedding reception. My wedding planner, Scarlet, she was really sweet, friendly and nice! the week I was there before the wedding she was always available for us. She tried her best on everything she did, and she was really creative, and if she thought something was a bad idea (for decoration for example) she said it, she would not just agree with everything we said, she really added to the ideas and was proactive. We both could have planned better the timings for the logistics but we never really though of a worst case scenario for "just in case" and I was the one who planned the timings, so i wish i would have gone through the timeline with her before the wedding to get her opinion on that specifically. I didn't want to give specific tasks to my friends, I should have, then they would have help more and not all at once but each one for specific parts of the event. I wish I had planned for a second dress! I loved my wedding dress and didn't want to take it off, but it was too warm! and the dancing made it worse! So at the end I changed into another dress that I had, but it was not a special dress for the wedding and i had already wore it another day, I wish I had bought a second dress for the wedding. That's all, at the end of the day we all ended in the pool (with our second dresses!) it was really great!! The other days were also great, the guests were happy to be there, it was like a group holiday! I'm open to questions if you'd like to know more, and I hope this reflections were useful

Hi everyone, im getting married next Saturday!! Im also getting more info from Sanctuary but still of course is not perfect and still a couple of details to finish. I really had to be very patient and just go with the flow... I will also let you know how it goes

Hi Redheadedone, sorry about this, I'm now wondering if i have the same problem :S what are the rates you see that now are being offered? I'm trying to check on their website but it doesn't work anymore!!

Hi Annabel, I'm also marrying in March my wedding planner now is Kary Gomez, her email is [email protected]. They have changed emails cause of the new administration. I don't have her direct phone number but I always call the resort's number: +1 809-562-9191 and ask for her, it works for me, they always put me through. I hope everything goes well with your wedding

Hi i am getting married the week before easter in DR. As far as I know he week of Easter catholic weddings are not a possibility. Starting from March 23, 2013. My advice is before booking the date in the resort, ask them to check with the priest before on the date , specially if it is around Easter.

Hi, I went to visit the resort last March, and during the tour we checked all the places we could use for the wedding, cocktail and reception. We opted for the Ocean View Lounge. We wanted initially to make the wedding in front of the beach but it will be a catholic ceremony and that is not allowed, it can be in the lounge inside though. If you would like to see more photos, this photographer has done some weddings and photo sessions in Sanctuary and Fishing Lodge and has some nice pictures on her blog, here is an example: http://www.*****novablog.com/secrets-sanctuary-wedding-photographer-evelyn-roman/ About the decorations, I'm not sure yet if i will bring my own, still exploring possibilities

If you prefer, please forward me your emails with respect to the rates you got, my email is [email protected]. thanks a million!

Really?! what prices did you get? can you please send them to me?

Hi Cltbride, did you have any luck with Sanctuary answering? My WC now is Sarah, not anymore Alexandra. So far she replies emails very fast! I hope you had better luck too with planning your wedding

Hi Cltbride, did you have any luck with contacting Sanctuary? I am now in contact with Sarah, not anymore with Alexandra. Sarah so far replies to my emails very fast. I hope you had better luck with the communication and planning your wedding

Hi Evelyn, I also got the Eternal Bliss package, it seemed like a really good deal, but please be aware that the decorations are not included: center pieces, other flowers, extra lightning, tiffany chairs (only the foldable chairs are included), and other decoration you might want. About the rooms, I negotiated directly with the hotel, since my guests are traveling from different countries, so I couldn't get a travel agent that could service all of them. The price I got for my guests depends on how many people stay in a room: if it's a double room is $216 per person per night. So, the room for two is $432 per night. If the room is only for single use is around $314 per person per room. There are more expensive rooms also, with an ocean view. I also found out if my guests could stay in the Fishing Lodge without paying a day pass, and they can there is a bit cheaper, around $195 per person per night in a room occupied by 2 and $271 for a room taken by 1 person. I should mention that i got the rates in January, so, I don't know if they changed them or they are the same... :S

Thank you so much for your comments, I feel a bit better today, I think yesterday the whole thing just went too much into my head :S And it's true, is not everyone that is complaining, or at least some stopped haha some friends are booking already actually My wedding is still far away in my head, is on March 2013, so there is time... some people are waiting until September to book flight tickets because they heard they get cheaper, I hope they do! Well, I'll keep you posted And I like the strategy of pointing out that this is at least better than doing the wedding in Europe, I honestly didn't want people to be burdened with Visas and expensive tickets... Thanks for listening!

I know my friends just want to be involved... most of them live across the world, so their way is to ask me a lot of questions: did you pick a dress? will you have bridesmaids? will you do this or that? The thing is, when my answers are not what they would do in their weddings then they keep asking: but why??!!!! it's so "IN" now!! :S Well, I don't really care about what is "IN" !!! I just want to have my wedding as I envisioned it! Why can't they just accept that, and well... keep your ideas for YOUR wedding! ARGG! I think I'm exaggerating.. but it's still annoying! The most annoying one is from one that wants to be a bridesmaid... but guess what? I don't want to have bridesmaids! I know that in the U.S. everyone has them, but I'm not from the U.S.! And she either!!! We are from another country, where apparently suddenly everyone has bridesmaids. Well, sorry but the trend is just not for me. I didn't want bridesmaids before, it was never my dream or anything, so I won't. So, I told her that, and now she says that "well, it's ok, since I'm sure I will be a witness" UHH... NO! we will only have 2 and she won't be one of them, it will be my sister and someone from my FI's family, period. I don't know how not to sound so rude about this with my friend, but I just don't consider my wedding the occasion where I have to start giving my best friends to have a "main role", it's my FI and my day! Anyone having similar problems?

I just want to vent a little: sometimes I feel so guilty about having a DW, I feel selfish, and I think aren't weddings about celebrating with family and friends? then why make it so difficult for people to come? I then remember myself of why we are having one: we want to! and at some point I thought it was more convenient for everyone really. But then again, after hearing so many comments about pricing from my dad, mom, friends, colleagues (not even close friends!), well, everyone! But then I think: me and my FI live in Europe for the last 5 years, this is where we met and this is where our "home" is; but our families are from 2 other different continents! so, wherever we had our wedding it was going to be a DW! So, we decided to make it in a neutral place that we both love, not his country and not mine so that everyone feels that we didn't picked "a side". Not Europe because it would just be more expensive for EVERYONE (us and the guests!). So we chose Punta Cana. But now, everyone complains: wow! you picked an expensive place! why there? wow! it looks like you move "in other circles", is your family reach? (and no, they are not!) I will try to go to the wedding,... but not to YOUR hotel!! OMG Was I supposed to pick the cheapest hotel in Punta Cana for everyone to be happy? And why do people think they can just say this things? don't they realize this is stressful? Nobody is forcing them to go! I even say they have the option to stay somewhere else! My mom isn't even paying for her trip but she complains because her cousins complain to her, and then she comes and complains to me about the prices. I don't even care if her cousins come, I only invited them because I wanted to not exclude them, not because I expected them to make any effort in coming... I honestly don't even understand why they are coming, they never even write to me, If they want a vacation they can just take it whenever they want... somehow I'm thinking of letting them know that they shouldn't feel obliged to come AT ALL but i don't want to be rude... Another aunt sent me the news that she won't be coming: "it just doesn't fit her goal of traveling once again to Europe in this live" WTF!!??? Am I just being too sensitive? that's what a friend told me, not to take it personally... plop! how am i supposed to do that? It's my f... wedding!!! And then I go back to guilt This is so stressful that i don't even feel like picking the details of the wedding, flowers and nice things i should be thinking about Well, this became a long vent! Sorry but I don't want to stress my FI, since he also started to get super stressed when I told him about only 1 complaint Anyway, thanks for reading...

Does anyone know how does it work to coordinate with the Catholic Church in Punta Cana? I received a document with the requirements from my WC but I am not sure if i have to send the papers directly to the church or to her, and do we have to book a date and time personally? I will ask this to my WC, but I want to know other experiences also, just in case she says we have to take care of all of this ourselves, isn't this supposed to be part of her job? She already mentioned that she recommends WeDo for the paperwork, but isn't that her job?! why would I pay (extra) the WeDo services for this?!