disazaja

Hi JRM426!!! Thanks for all the pics!!! they look awesome! just as curiosity, how many chinese lanterns did you bring with you? I want to bring my own too but I want to get an idea of how many are needed to fill Bar Higuey. how many lighted balls did you get too? I saw those online but they will be impossible to bring so I would have to get them in the DR. Did you have decorations on the pools around bar higuey? JG Corona thanks for the video! so pretty! did you girls felt that you were rushed on the spa because your weddings were the same day? or it didnt really matter? mine is at 3 pm and there is another bride at 5pm .. so I dont want to be ready by 12....

Elycoco - so I havent even started thinking about welcome bags, but my friends have recommended having these things on them: advil/ alkaseltzer (for the hangover), maps of the resort or the island, brochures of what to do, wedding itinerary (in case you are having extra activities), spa prices for guests who wish to do their hair and make up, a list of where the other guests are staying so they can meet and go to dinner , etc. My friend got married in Charlotte, NC and she had welcome bags, in there she had brochures of things to do in the city, a water bottle with their names, a postcard of the city, NC souvernirs (cheerwine, sundrop, moonpie, honey and wine), itinerary and phone #s of wedding party just in case, candy/chocolate with thank you labels and advils, toothpaste and toothbrush in case they forgot one at home.

JG Corona!! I have been seeing your pics on facebook and I love them all!!!! I am so glad everythign was beautiful! cant wait to see the video! any tips for us future brides? Teena84 - so the food tasting was 50 per person and we tried 2 different sets of everything (appetizer, entree and dessert) the hair and make up was 130 . I think the cake is done by an outside vendor because when I asked to do a cake tasting it wasnt an option. Lianny said we di get breakfast in bed the next morning, 2 massages and a facial for the bride, we cna upgrade to a better room if it is availability. All of this is part of the tangerine package though, not sure how it works with the other packages.

Bjeantil - so during crazy hour, people wear like masks, or hats, funny stuff and it is like the primetime of the party... some people add the photoboot, etc. The resort actually offers a crazy hour show which is $894 and it has 6 people doing samba, capoeira, funny characters, etc. I am not sure if thats the one Elycoco was talkign about. I am going to have crazy hour, but I am doing it myself by bringing the accesories and adding the photobooth. cocoholly- so during my visit, I used USD for the entry fee, the cab ride and to get snacks and souvenirs at the airport. On the resort, I used my credit card to pay for the hair and make up trial and the food tasting. If you are staying in the resort the whole time, I dont see the need to get dominican pesos.

Hi! So I flew from Miami with my mom and our plane tickets were 429.... however, I am looking for our tickets for March and I will be flying from NY=700!!!! I have guests in Charlotte, NC = 600, Miami= 400-450, Chicago = 700, Dallas = 700... I am not sure if prices will drop closer to the date but they make me nervous too!!! 700 is wayyyyy too much money! I am doing crazy hour but I am bringing my own hats, necklaces, etc and I will do the confetti machine and make sure the DJ plays the crazy hour music.... but I am not getting one of the shows. So Lianny told me that for Catholic ceremonies you have 2 options, regular mass (45 minutes) or just the wedding ceremony (20 minutes) and she did say we can pick readings, I didnt ask about songs. Elycoco since you are so close to the date, which paperwork did you send to have a catholic wedding? I am confused to what they require

TRivera, this was just a table they had on their office. I took pictures of how they setup the tables, like the decorative plates, napkins, utensils, etc. I chose white tableclothes, the one with texture (pic attached btu in green)... and a green apple runner since my wedding theme is all tropical colors, gold tiffany chairs, and gold decorative plates. I think the napkins are white and I didnt really ask for other colors since white goes with my decoration. That centerpiece was pretty but those werent real flowers, so it is definelty something they can get from their vendors if you are interested. Just as an FYI, the mirror below the centerpiece is extra! surprise! yes! those are the 5.5 chairs... they have different colors too... white, silver, gold, and brown, you can also add a ribbon to them (also extra).

Bjeantil.... it depends, you can only rent the rooftop for one hour, so if the bar is empty, guests will have time to talk, etc. but if the bar is packed then they will waste time on line and waiting for drinks. This bar started getting crowded before the shows around 8ish other than that I never saw it crowded... they dont have appetizers either, so it depends if you want some food or not. I might pay for canapes and drinks just because I will be handing out welcome bags at the time so I want people to be all there at the same time. However, this is one of my "flexible" costs LOL if after adding everything else I can afford it, I will do it hahahahahah

Hi girls!!! here are the pics!! sorry some are blurry and dark but as I said I am not artsy LOL they are not in order either ... oups! https://picasaweb.google.com/disazaja/Barcelo?authuser=0&feat=directlink hope this helps!!! enjoy!!!!

TRivera - I didnt ask about the beach ceremony the other options for starters are different salads: caesar, curry chicken salad, tomato and goat cheese, and caprese or soups: minestrone, onion soup, chicken noodle, and asparagus. The salads are the best option unless your reception is on the ballroom and heat wont be an issue. I didnt even ask about renting the spa LOL I am sure it would be crazy expensive since renting one of the 11 restaurnats is 8,000 hhahahahahah I only had the chance to try the steakhouse but if I am going to pick out of appareance, the japanese is sooo pretty... it has these lighted cherry blossoms oustide (you will see it on my pics later). There is also a nice/cool little private room on the steakshouse called "La Cava", it is within the steakhouse but on its own private room filled with wines... I think it only fits around 15-20 people though...I think I am going with the Japanese so it is a totally different type of food than the reception... I walked by the casino and the club, there were a lot of people walking over there and they were all dressed up but I didnt go in since I was with my mom LOL

Lalalal1z Just make sure to follow up wiht her abotu your wire. It usually takes a while but they do get it. She will send you a file with extras.... for example, DJ is 488 for 3 hours, photos, there are different packages starting from 450 to 2,000. I can email you the file with the extras if you want so you can budget.

Good morning everyone!! I am back and I have great news for all of you!! I apologize for the long post by the way, but I want to be as detailed as possible…. I will post pictures later this week. Thursday My mom and I got there around 7 pm, the airport is really cute and tropical… everyone has to pay a $10 USD entry fee, and I think it has to be cash, so that’s a good thing to let guests know. After we claimed our bags we took a taxi, it was around a 25 minute ride and it was $28 USD (another thing to keep in mind if you are not getting transportation for your guests). The driver offered to pick us up on Saturday on our way to the airport and surprisingly, he was there on time on Saturday waiting for us. So we got to the hotel, and there was a gate at the entrance and the security guard stopped and asked where we were going, so that was good. Overall, I never felt unsafe, not on the resort or the drive from/to the airport. The resort is HUGE, we drove by the golf course, tennis courts and everything was very well maintained, clean and pretty gardens. People were playing tennis at the time and jogging around the resort. We got to the lobby, and it was really pretty too, this is the main lobby and main building, you will find shops, most of the restaurants, spa, theater, chill out room, weddings office, tropical pictures office, ATMs, vacations office, and big theater where the have shows every night. The check in was pretty quick and smooth and they got us a golf cart to escort us to our room. We got our room through priceline and we got the cheapest one, I was thinking we were going to get one by the golf course, far away from everything, but not we got one with oceanview so that was a great surprise. The room was very clean, and it had a mini bar with sodas, water, beer and some chips and nuts. This is all included and they will refill it every morning, that was good, sometimes you want something to drink and you don’t want to pay $10 for water. The only thing I noticed is that the water smells differently there, not bad, just different. Not the drinking water, the sink, shower and toilet water. We headed to the Bohio Dominicano buffet for dinner, we took the train which is convenient. It works from 8 am to 4 am and they are very constant, I would say every 3 minutes you see a train. So on the main lobby you have 2 buffet options, Bohio Dominicano and Miramar, they have 2 other buffet on the adults only part, La Brisa (under remodelation so it was closed) and Caribbean., so if your guests are staying on the adults only hotel they don’t need to go to the main lobby if they don’t want to. You can have breakfast, lunch and dinner on any of these buffets at any point without reservations. However, the other restaurants, Japanese, Mexican, Seafood, Spanish, Steakhouse, Chez Gourmet (adults only hotel), Italian and French (both of these have a fee if you are not a club premium guest) you do need a reservation which can be made on the lobby or by calling an extension #. Just so you know, these reservations get booked pretty fast, so I would recommend that guests get there and plan which restaurants they want to try and make reservations since day 1. I saw a lot of people doing this on the lobby, picking restaurants and times for all their stay. The food on Bohio Dominicano was ok, I would say a 7 from 1 to 10. It had lots of variety, meats, salads, veggies, pastas, rices, desserts and fruits. But I wouldn’t say the food was the best I ever had, it was good, but not like OMG. The waitress will bring your drinks and clean up the table, they were courteous but not like super friendly. But I did noticed, they were nicer when you speak Spanish to them, maybe because not all of them speak English fluently. After dinner, we headed to the main theater to watch the show which was a meringue show, a live band with dancers, it was entertaining. There are waitress going around and bringing drinks. Friday It was great waking up and see the clear waters and white sand! J for breakfast we tried the Miramar buffet, same as Bohio, lots of options, pancakes, omelets, fruits, cereals, pastries, etc. it was good but not to die for… Just have to add this; they have lots of chairs on the pools and on the beach, which is good. You can easily find a spot. So 10 am came and we went to meet Lianny by the lobby, she was on time and she is probably 27ish… she was nice and friendly and walked us to the weddings’ office. I saw Susana there too, she is probably 30ish. Anyways, Lianny was all business, she opened a file under my name and had pictures I had sent her of cakes, decorations, flowers, etc. so she started going through these details one by one. Cake flavors, flowers, timeline of the wedding day, etc. she did remember everything we talked about and all my concerns. Ok so here is what I got from the meeting…. Cake flavors: vanilla or chocolate Fillings: strawberry, guava, dulce de leche, almonds, chocolate, lime, vanilla. You can definitely bring decorations, favors, etc. she suggested we bring a suitcase full of things instead of shipping boxes. She said she was still waiting on boxes some brides have sent 3 months ago. She actually had a huge suitcase from a bride there, not sure if it is JGCorona’s LOL, she had all the candies for a candy bar, the jars to put them in, favors, fans, programs, bubbles, table #s and place cards. Behind Susana there were more little bags from another bride (there were 2 weddings on Saturday). She got me the prices for the Chinese lanterns, a 12†lantern without light = $12, with light =$20 16†no light†= $16 with light = $24, 24†no light = $26, with light = $34. the light is not a candle, they are light bulbs, I think they don’t need light since Bar Higuey has lights… but it all depends on what you are going for. I do think they are really pricey, so that’s something I am planning on brining with me. She wasn’t sure how many were needed for Bar Higuey since she has never used them there before, Saturday was going to be the first time. Again, not sure if that was JGCorona’s wedding. Lianny said she will send me pics of how it looks and how many she used. She also got me the prices for the floating candles! Soo expensive, the flower ones are $76 for a dozen and they last 5 hours. The round ones are $101 for a dozen, not sure why they are mores expensive…. She did mentioned that if things don’t have a weight, they tend to all move to a corner of the pool, so she suggested balloons with weights, I wasn’t sure about that so I am going to look for options here better. So we also decided on tablecloth colors (I will post the pictures later) as well as chairs, etc. my wedding is going to be on the church, so she let me switched the Caribbean trio for a pianist, no extra fee. The decoration of the chapel, will be a red carpet, and some cylinders filled with water and submerged orchids (included on tangerine package). The church is really pretty so it doesn’t need a lot of extra decoration. The beach gazebo is really cute too, but it is between the pool and the beach, if you don’t want people around you then this is not the best option for you (I will post pics later), the garden gazebo is more private and bigger and the dock is also beautiful and private. They have romantic dinners there every night. That would be a nice honeymoon thing! They will have one of the trains for us (no fee) decorated to take guests from one place to another during the wedding day. Lianny will be there the whole time, to make sure everything is running smoothly. We then went to the office of tropical pictures, they do have more pictures there than what they have on their website or facebook. I have to say this, I am not an artsy person and don’t know a lot about photography so I liked what I saw…. Typical getting ready pics, ceremony pictures, etc, but again, I might not be the best judge. I am going to go with them bc their pics look nice and it is hassle-free. You can pick the location for your pics, the beach, golf course, the gardens, etc. Then we headed to the vacations office because I wanted to see what other activities we can have for our guests….they have lots of options too…. Here is their email [email protected]... The ones I liked the most were: the spa cruise, half a day cruise and they have massages, pilates, etc and the imagine disco tour…. I am doing this since my wedding is a 3pm and the party will be over so early…Pretty much a bus picks you up at 11 on the resort, takes you to this club which is a cave and you get 2 drinks and come back at 4 am. http://imaginepuntacana.com/ this will be like the after party LOL this tour is $40 per person. After this we headed to the Caribbean buffet where our food tasting was going to be. We tried out the caprese salad, asparagus soup, the sirloin steak and the fish, the crème brulee and the chocolate cake. I picked the cparese salad, the presentation was really pretty, it came on a parmesan cheese shell (think of a taco salad but parmesan cheese) and it was a good portion. The soup was good but I felt sooo warm after a couple spoons that it wasn’t a good option for the weather. The sirloin steak, was a little hard but the portion was great and nice presentation, it came with mashed potatoes, and veggies. I feel steak is tough because everyone likes it cooked differently. So I picked the fish, also nice presentation with mashed pototoes and veggies and a good portion, the fish was a grouper, she said they usually go with white fish whatever is on the market at the time of the year. The crème brulee was good and I had to pick that one since it is my fiancé’s favorite. The chocolate cake was good and had a nice decoration. On Saturday night, I also went to the steakhouse for dinner and the steak was exactly the same. So that was another reason for picking the fish, I didn’t go to the seafood restaurant though, maybe the fish was also the same….. After the taste we headed to the spa, for hair and makeup trial. Ok so on the tangerine package you do get the bridal suite, but here is the bad news, since it is on the spa, you cant really be there with all your bridesmaids being loud and taking pics, since other people would be having massages, etc. So if it is only going to be you and someone else then that’s a good option, if not then your room will be a better place to get ready… I have 6 crazy bridesmaids so there is no way we can use the bridal suite….2 months before the wedding day, she will send you a spa rooster, you will specify who is going to get what and she will work out the schedule. The spa is really nice and quiet and relaxing, so relaxing my mom totally passed out while I was getting my hair done LOL So I took pics of the hair style I wanted and the make up… the lady asked me if I wanted to see what they can do first, and to my surprise, all of the hairstyles I wanted where there…it is a loose up-do (pictures to come) so their hairstyles are up to date. She took her time and did a great job with my hair….. the make up however, even though I was happy wasn’t was I was going for. Mostly because they don’t have all the colors and things there… I love fake eyelashes, they don’t have them there, I wanted some smoky gray and silver eye shadow, they don’t have it there… the liquid eyeliner was too thick too because they don’t have the right one there. So for my wedding I am bringing my own make up and eyelashes, etc. they do know how to apply makeup, they just don’t have all the tools and colors. The lady was really nice, her name was Yaniri Castillo, and she wrote down everything she did so she can remember in March…. Really sweet lady. That night we had reservations at 9:30 for the steakhouse. Only restaurant and time available when we made the reservation that day at 2 pm…that’s why it is important to make reservations ealy. Food was good… service was a little slow, but they were busy, they weren’t slow just because they were standing around. Saturday We headed to the beach… when you check in they give you one card per person for the beach/pool towels…. You cant lose it, otherwise they charge you $25. The beach is amazing! As I said before, lots of chairs available, so no need to rush in the morning. We went to the adults’ only buffet for breakfast… but we went late, 11 am and food was ok but I have to say it was a little bit colder… like not fresh. So I suggest going earlier. Went back, got ready and checked out… fast and easy too… the cab driver was waiting for us… and we got to the airport on time. Long immigration line, 40 minutes on line. Extras that I didn’t mention Rehearsal dinner – can be done in one of the restaurants. Chill-out bar – reallyyyyyyyy pretty… for a welcoming cocktail, it is $500 for one hour… and $15 per person to get waiter and canapés. But the bar is literally 50 steps away…. It does get dark around 6ish so I would suggest using it before 6…. There are some mosquitos... but not too bad. Lianny and Susana are non stop… during our meeting Lianny got phone calls from 3 different brides asking for info; she was called several times from people on the hotel (restaurant, spa, etc). so I think that they don’t really have the time to sit down and reply to all of us immediately but it made me feel better that she did have all my info and pics. There were 2 conventions while I was there and yes, they were next to the Bar Higuey. But they don’t interfere with it… so they are all on the convention center but there is not need for anyone else to go to Bar Higuey if they are not on your wedding. The resort is beautiful! I have no regrets picking it and I can’t wait to go back! I will post pics later sorry for the longgg post!! Let me know if you have more questions and I hope this helps!

OMG Julissa!!! so exciting!!! best of luck!!! cant wait to see your pictures! I will be there doing my site visit so we might see each other!

Parrish, here are the prices for hair and make up. I am attaching the complete file. Hair Styling for Brides: 70 USD - 80 minutes Hair Styling (short hair): 60 USD 50 minutes Hair Styling (long hair): 70 USD - 80 minutes Shampoo & Blow Dry (short hair): 50 USd - 50 minutes Shampoo & Blow Dry (Long Hair): 70 USD - 80 minutes Makeup: 60 USD - 50 minutes Spa Prices.pdf

Good morning!!! Sorry I haven't been so active lately!!!! So Lianny hasnt given me a quote for the chinese lanterns or any of the extra things I asked for.... but I will be there Sept 26 - 28 doing a site visit and she promised she will have an answer to all of my questions! I am doing food tasting as well as hair/makeup trial during my visit and I have a list of questions I am going to go over with Lianny during my visit... if anyone has a specific question or wants me to take pics of something let me know!!! I am going to try to get as much info as possible! I will post pics once I come back question, how far in advance are you girls buyinh your plane tickets? what about your guests? I am trying to determine if they are more expensive now or closer to the date Ncordero - I got my wedding invitations from wedding paper divas, as well as the RSVP card, travel info card and green pocket envelopes.... I am getting some yellow and hot pink belly bands... I will send pictures of the final product in about 2 weeks... here is what I am trying to go for (mine will be green envelope, yellow and hot pink ribbons) and the invitations I got... (the font is really green, for some reason looks blue on the screen)

Just found this wedding pics from another photographer on BBPD. http://www.*****novablog.com/barcelo-punta-cana-wedding-photographer-lysa-tanner/ looks amazing!