Kel123073

Here is my perspective on the reserve vs. royal service.... Hope it helps! I stayed in royal service at paradisus punta cana a couple of years ago! I loved it at the time, but then I stayed at the reserve at the palma real and hands down wouldn't stay anywhere else! I think it is a personal choice though..... For us we loved the room.... It was like having a condo! We loved the hydro grill for lunch in the reserve and also the breakfast buffet there as well! Then there is gabi beach! Amazing for lunch or dinner and right off the beach! We took the golf carts as well as walked.... It was about a 7 minute walk to the beach! The whole atmosphere is super chill and relaxing even though kids club is in that area! My sister was the only one of our group staying at the main hotel. I asked before arriving if it was possible to forgo our upgrade and if they would possibly upgrade her and her family to the reserve with the rest of us. Massiel was great she explained she would try and get back to me. Unfortunately they couldn't. She explained they consider it two separate hotels and they do upgrade but to the next level room in the hotel u booked it. Also the hotel was really full compared to a previous stay.... So maybe if it was less crowded they might have! She had a rough check in. She was 7 months pregnant and they gave her a room on the third floor! They asked for another room and it took several hours. My brothers law works in the hotel industry and emailed the resort in regards to the rough check in... Not only did they wait several hours they told him to go find his bags himself.... The hotel was very apologetic and actually comped them the fee to eat at Passion restaurant and she said it was phenomenal! They had an amazing time and the room was nice. Only downside was no privacy in the bathroom....there are shutters that u can see thru from the bedroom area. For a couple it would be fine but with kids it lacked privacy! The rest of my group was upgraded to all kinds of rooms in the reserve.... Master suites...swim up suites, master suites with private gardens etc! As far as the photography we paid cash and avoided the taxes! For the buffet we requested they swap quite a few items.... They agreed to all our swaps! Also with the table linens I was able to choose from the brown with swirls, white or ivory with no charge. They really were very accommodating and a pleasure to deal with! The best advice I could give after all the planning would be to enjoy every minute of it! Don't stress and have fun! For me I totally relaxed once I got there and had my meeting with Massiel because then it was just time to celebrate and enjoy every moment with my family that traveled so far to be with us!

Oooohhhh and one more thing, Hold on to and bring along a copy of your pricing at the time of booking. Prices do change but they are great and do honor your original pricing!

Sorry for the delayed response, I am working crazy hours th is week! omg Ev that is too funny! You definitely should have written that. I would have known! I agree definitely negotiate for everything.... they pretty much always are willing to.... One other thing I forgot to mention! When we first stayed they didn't enforce the closed shoe policy for men at some restaurants. My cousin asked me in regards to her boyfriend and I said on no you don't need them. Well now they are enforcing it and my husband didn't have any either. It is kind of unfortuante, we missed out on several restaurants and the ironic thing is they were literally letting men in wearing sweatpants and sneakers. Meanwhile my husband had beautiful linen pants and shirts with leather slides and we weren't aloud in. So let your guests know!!!

Thanks! Sorry it was a little long.... The excursions we booked right on the beach in front of the hotel. They provide the hotel with the free kayaks, hobiecats and paddle oats. I think it was scuba caribe. The best part was they picked u up right on the beach. I had done others in the past that come pick you up at hotel on a bus and you have to pick up and drop off at other hotels.... Can take quite a while! The spa was great..... I had massages there but not mani pedi, they have no dryers for your nails.

Okay so here is our review....... We chose to spend more money on the room and airfare than a lot of upgrades to the wedding itself... just a personal choice. We stayed in the Reserve....worth every penny! Upon check in the majority of my guests rooms were upgraded including ours. We were upgraded to a Master Suite with my parents across the hall in a master suite as well. This worked our perfect since we didn't rent the bridal suite.... guys got ready in my parents rooms and girls in our room. We flew first/buisness class since I was bringing two extra bags worth of welcome bags, programs, placecards, table numbers and holders, wedding activity books for the kids, cake knife and server, cake topper, menus, thank you cards, and of course my wedding dress as well. The groom also had a garment bag for his suit, his son's and his linens for the week, lol! Also the kids have only flown once before and they were super nervous so we wanted them to relax and be comfortable flying. ( I used miles to upgrade my ticket, and we purchased their tickets early so the price was reasonable ) Funny little side note, we ordered a limousine and they confirmed with us the night before, pickup price time etc.... We were scheduled for a 6 10 am pick up and they never showed and no one answered the phone! We had seven suitcases, my dress, his garment bag, two adults and two children. My fiance is divorced and his two children! We have a PRIUS! Can u seriously imagine!!! We somehow managed to pack it all in and get to the airport and not miss our flight!!!! So if anyone is from the north jersey area DO NOT USE BERGEN LIMO! I emailed them and got no response and no phone call back! Also we used Suntransfers and they were not at the airport to meet us, even though I spoke with them the night before... took about a half hour to get someone there to meet us and I had ordered a ten passenger vehicle and that isn't what we got....but we got to the resort our room was ready and we started enjoying ourselves! We had arranged several dinners before arriving with Massiel from the onsite Romance Dept. Definitely take advantage of this.... I didn't realize at first that you could make multiple group dinner requests until I saw another bride had! We arranged for dinner with our parents the first the night and a large group dinner the second night! Our rehearsal dinner didn't work out but that was just a little miscommunication! We arrived on Tuesday, had a meeting with Massiel on Wed morning to go over the ceremony and all the details....and the photographer Wed afternoon! She was wonderful, we brought everything up to her office including my IPOD for the music to be played when I walked down the aisle etc.... The day of the wedding, I went out to the beach relaxed and when I came back to the room, houskeeping hadn't cleaned yet and it was 1pm.... advise them the night before that you need the room cleaned early. When I called they were great and they sent two girls up immediately and whipped the room into shape! We headed to the spa for my 3 pm appointment for hair and makeup for myself, my mom and my sister. They did them fast but they took their time with me! My sister also had to go back to room she did the younger girls hair which by the way came out amazing! They gave us 15% off my mom and sister as well! Carmen did my hair and makeup and she was AMAZING!!! I showed her a pic and she copied it exactly. I am very picky with my hair and makeup and she blew me away! I even brought MAC #7 eyelashes with the glue which I told her I would put on if she couldn't at the end and she did them for me! They looked amazing... The only issue was they took so long that I was late getting back to room. Everyone was waiting for me and I had no time for pictures in the room because I was later for 6pm ceremony and was losing the light for beach photos! I had a couple of quick shots in the room and the photographer gave me the choice but i wanted the pics on the beach..... The beach was all set and cleared of people in that area! Everything was amazing!!!!! The minister was lovely from the resort, only issue was they hadn't given her my cousin's reading so she just said we would come back to it. She handled it like a pro and we just laughed! They sand ceremony I had printed wasn't given to her either.... the coordinators ran back to the office to get it while the ceremony continued... The minister winged the sand ceremony and it was beautiful...guess she has done them before...lol They whole ceremony was beautiful and my family members couldnt get over how beautiful it was... they didn't know what to expect and said it was just like a wedding at home. We then began group photos at the beach which were great! Our photographer was a bit new I think and my dad stepped in to help him.... My dad was a wedding photographer for years so that definitely helped! Everybody just laughed and enjoyed the photos as you can see! The guests were taken to cocktail hour which was at Olympus Terrace as well..... we paid for an extra hour for the DJ so we would have music for the cockail hour and it was lovely! In hindsight I would add a couple more appetizers..... The reception started and the DJ was good but didn't play some of the songs we requested I guess he didn't have them.... not sure but overall he was great..... soundsystem and lighting great as well. Menu was awesome... our family was glad we chose buffet.... lots of options and my cousins girlfriend I found out has a lot of food allergies, Massiel handled it very well and went to main buffet to get her food, since she was unsure of some ingredients used in preparation of our food. Cake was delicious!!!! Everyone was up dancing the whole night and we had a lot of onlookers wishing they could join the party. In fact our bartender as well as servers hit the dance floor a couple of times with us! Even the wedding coordinators were hanging out enjoying themselves.... we are a pretty fun laid back bunch! They really do make it a private event. We did have one beligerent woman walk right thru and they tried to stop her and she refused! lol To sum it all up we had the wedding of our dreams. It meant more to us that our family traveled so far to celebrate with us and our day was more than I ever imagined it to be! Post wedding we had a lot of trouble getting dinner reservations, also the hotel was at full capacity..... we never met our concierge she called once and wanted to come up but we were on our way to meeting with photographer. The desk helped me as well as our old concierge from previous stay... Dalmy. She remembered us and was gracious enough to get us one of o ur dinners. We also tipped a lot so when we mentioned to one of the hostess's at lunch we had no dinner reservation we just got married here and it was our last night she immediately got us one! With the photographer our package included 50 photos for $600 for getting ready, ceremony, and the beach shots. We had family taking pics at reception so we didn't add that on. We ended up getting 94 photos for $750.... my fiance negotiated.... Originally they wanted $900 ( just a tip to negotiate for extra photos) We did an amazing excursion our last day if anybody is curious about excursions. Mike and I took the two kids on the private speedboat snorkeling adventure... they picked us up right on the beach in front of hotel and it was a 2 hour excursion....we road the coast, went to an amaziing snorel spot, were I saw the most tropical fish I have ever seen and then headed to the natural beach area to hang out have some drinks and relax, they drive the coast back to the hotel.... We paid $210 it was amazing!!! Hope my review helps.... any questions feel free to ask! Kelly and Mike

Thank you very much! We chose the chill out chic package because we absolutely loved the decor....it was totally us! We didn't upgrade anything really, we did a bunch of swaps with the menu which was no problem. I did the bridesmaid bouquets myself in silk peonies. ( I worked in a florist growing up so it was super easy ) The flowers for the groomsmen ringbearer we ordered from Lara and we chose centerpieces that went with the chill out chic theme, orchids floating in water filled vases with stones on the bottom and floating candles on top. Unfortunately, Lara was right it was too windy for the candles. We had the most amazing breeze off the ocean so the reception was amazing! We chose Olympus Terrace and added the chinese lanterns which are definitely necessary for lighting and we had the house DJ who was pretty good! I think our extras came to about $1800 for DJ, flowers, and lighting....not bad hope that helps.... I am going to post the full review below. kelly

Hi Ladies, We are back..... I will post a full review but just wanted to show you a few pics! and thank you for all the well wishes!!! as you can see we had a blast!!!

Ladies..... we are here and our wedding was yesterday!!! It was everything we had hoped for and more!!! I will post pics and details when we get home for sure....just wanted to let you know Massiel and her team were amazing! The weather was gorgeous! and forget about my hair and makeup! They did exactly what I wanted with my hair and my makeup was stunning.... I did chang e to my own lip color! lol I never never wear anything but nude lol! The food was amazing with the chill out chic buffet and the setting on olympus terrace was breathtaking! DJ was awesome!!! We had a hiccup or two but honestly We just laughed and rolled with it.... so sad the day is over but actually looking forward to relaxing! xoxo kelly

Liz, Thank you!!!! Your post meant a lot! It is crunch time we leave Tuesday morning! OMG I am sooooo excited..... Can't wait to just get to the resort... and of course follow up with all you guys and let you know how everything went! Your planning is definitely coming along... super exciting. Enjoy because before you know it will be your turn! Kelly

Hey I'm on my iPhone so I can't reply directly for some reason. Anyway, we are in NJ and using united because its direct from newark ...they have a closet. We did upgrade our seats bc we can check two bags each up to 70lbs and we are bringing a few things lol. Not sure about other airlines most I think doubt jet blue apparently doesn't!

Thank you so much for the well wishes! We are getting super excited! Just a heads up.... Jet blue has no closet on board for a wedding gown! Another bride on here advised me so I just figured I would pass the info along! Kelly

I was wondering if you guys were affected.... Worst places to be stuck I guess .... And the party continues! Enjoy I guess!

I'm really sorry my post upset you so much. I am working four ten hour shifts in a row this week before leaving for DR..... I was quickly replying on my break this morning and guess it came across wrong. I wasn't looking to argue or debate with anyone let alone get private messages. Best of luck to you as we'll. Kelly

Rotha, I definitely found your feedback very helpful and truly appreciated the excursion info! kelly

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to respond. I guess I was just trying to point out how some not all reviews were coming across as a god awful experience and how upsetting that can be to future brides. I definitely appreciate feedback, advice and tips from past brides in order to help us with our weddings. As far as having never posted before, I did find it odd that you would take the time to write such a scathing review when never having taken the time to post anything previous. It doesn't make it less valid I just was wondering why take the time now is all. Thank y ou for your response though, I appreciate it. Ev..... so glad you were happy in the end!!! can't wait to see pics and I really appreciate the post with the feedback! So funny one of my coworkers cousins was at a weddind there this July 5th, maybe yours lol. but anyway they said they had an amazing time. I have been to other resorts there and none do compare!!! I know exactly what you mean thanks kelly

I totally agree it is social media, and anything can be posted! Up until now, I have found all the brides on here to be very supportive and positive towards each other. Was just simply pointing out that some of these scathing reviews are from brides who have never posted on here. Planning a destination wedding is totally different then planning a wedding at home. Most of our family can't really relate, so we have each other on here. I totally appreciate candid reviews but these are the first reviews like this I have seen honestly. I am very happy and comfortable with my decision to have my wedding here I just really felt bad for some fo the brides who are getting very upset and concerned now and that is why I posted my opinion. I am not all about "picking pretty colors and invites " on here, I found this sight to be a total godsend! So many ideas, reviews, and sharing of experiences as well as advice for future brides!

I may do a planning thread once we return.... hey it will give me something to do after all of this! Just saw your two teasers photos!!!!! OMG you looked amazing can't wait to see more! and by the way you should definitely continue this on the side, or hey maybe even full time! You have an amazing talent! My fiance is absolutely freaking out about how much we have to pack.... and it is half as much as you! he hates flying and keeps mentioning all the extra weight on the plane....lol

Luza 87 your pics are gorgeous! What a beautiful bride you were!!! Glad you had a great experience and thanks so much for sharing! I have a pretty laid back attitude, as well as my fiance and I think our wedding will be a memorable experience...... As far as some of the other reviews, I just have to point out that it is a little upsetting. Some reviews are from brides I never saw active on this thread and some have been very active. If you didn't have the wedding of your dreams I am sorry to hear that. Weddings are costly in the US and at a destination and so much planning is involved! I have definitely had my major stressful moments in planning for sure. What I find most upsetting is now taking the time to post all about your awful experience. I know this won't go over well but I think it is a little mean spirited towards some of us brides who are coming up so soon, as well as to those who recently made the decision to have their wedding at PPR! I appreciate honesty and I know there will be glitches for sure...... we are traveling to another country where things are a little different, sometimes more laid back and definitely not the same experience of having a wedding in the US. This is the type of wedding though that we wanted! A beautiful destination, that we loved surrounded by family and friends. I am sure that this post won't be recieved very well, but it bothered me that much, that I felt compelled to respond. The weeks leading up to leaving for the wedding are exciting and stressful and to be bombarded with awful reviews just causes more stress! Don't get me wrong, sharing glitches and providing tips from your personal experience are definitely appreciated, but some of these previous posts were rather upsetting. Sincerely, Kelly