EVKnowsitall

Quote: Originally Posted by JustNoelle I wonder how I missed this thread! Lol. Here's my inspiration board: And our professional pics from Del Sol Photography. I tried to include all peacock inspired photos... Hope this helps other peacock brides. P.S. Look out for my Peacock Beach Wedding planning thread soon. Very nicely executed!

Quote: Originally Posted by Tbasgall I love the last picture. I'm all about having my hair up because it will be hot during our ceremony. I'm afraid if I have it down it will look like a giant mess. I don't know- I thought the same thing and my hair held. I was torn with having it up right until the last minute in the salon. I barely wear my hair up so I was afraid it would alter my appearance too much and I wouldn't look like me. I didn't want to hate my hairstyle looking back on it later. I got married at 5 PM in a hot as hell Catholic Church lol. They wouldn't let us light a unity candle because of the "breeze" except...there was NO BREEZE. HAHA. My reception was on the beach at 8 pm after my 7 pm cocktail hour. I got married on July 5th so it was blazing. Heres my hair do:

Quote: Originally Posted by futuredejesus Hi Ladies!! I hope planning is going well! I just wanted to share with you guys my save the dates. Since we are traveling what better way to represent the idea of traveling with luggage tag save the dates. I was inspired by another bride on BDW PynkLemonade. LOVE your wedding date- 12/13/14. Its my husbands bday but I love how the numbers follow sequentially.

Quote: Originally Posted by KatyaNova Hi ladies!! We've worked with Now Larimar on a number of weddings and they always do a fabulous job. This resort has some of the best wedding planners around! I love that there's the Now Larimar and the Secrets Royal Beach sides. Your guests can choose where they prefer to stay and both sides are very accommodating. It's also awesome that there are no bracelets. The resort is fairly small, it's easy to get around and connect with all your wedding guests. It's the perfect choice!!! Just to let you know, they have recently changed the 'outside vendor' policy and it's now $500 to bring your own photographer/videographer team. Rob & I do both photo & video and have a special deal for our Now Larimar brides - we pay half of this fee for you (or simply give you a $250 reduction on your favourite Collection). From the perspective of both a photographer AND a recent bride, I invite you to do your homework and make sure you absolutely love whomever you hire to document your love!! Here's some eye candy from our recent wedding there... For more, check out these other weddings: http://www.katyanovablog.com/now-larimar-punta-cana-wedding-taylor-scott/ http://www.katyanovablog.com/secrets-royal-beach-wedding-photographer-laura-jeff/ http://www.katyanovablog.com/tamara-jeff-now-larimar-wedding-punta-cana/ http://www.katyanovablog.com/samantha-travis-now-larimar-engagement-punta-cana-dr/ http://www.katyanovablog.com/now-larimar-punta-cana-wedding-jen-jack/ I'm here for you if you have any questions about the place!!! Hugs from Punta Cana, Katya. [email protected] Katya, This brides dress is so fabulous! I love the practicality of it. I already got married so my input isn't necessary- but I was looking at Now Larimar. AMResorts- the company who owns Dreams/ Secrets/ Zoetry/ Now is amazing. The service is wonderful. I don't know much about NOW but have been to Dreams and Secrets in different locations. My husband and I are big fans. The service at all the AMResorts properties is amazing. They truly make you feel like they are only catering to you. When we arrived to Secrets Riviera Maya they told us "welcome home" and they do everything to make you feel that way.

Quote: Originally Posted by DannysAp Here are few pics: Beautiful. Your set up worked out nicely. I agree the Garden Gazeebo is terribly small. It looks bigger at Paradisus Punta Cana- you would think with all their weddings they would have a bigger gazebo lol. We had our cocktail hour at the Plaza too. I think its the best spot for cocktail hour. It is already set up for a nice, chill ambiance, photographs beautifully, and is a nice reprieve from the heat too since nice breezes flow through.

Quote: Originally Posted by Madso Hello Ladies, So I'm getting married offsite but want to stay at the paradisus. Did anyone else do this and did anyone else have a problem with the romance department? They are giving me hard time given that my wedding is offsite. I didn't have my reception offsite but my ceremony was at the local Catholic church off-site and my husband and I both agreed that they made it a tad bit difficult and even made some comments like "this is why we don't recommend people getting married off-site, it would have been perfect if you got married here but you chose the church so it will be difficult". While I'm certain they didn't mean it the way it came off- it was a little unsettling. When our coordinator told us that we both looked at each other. My experience is that they are awesome about planning weddings on-site, but they struggle with helping brides off-site. they seem to try and do everything to discourage it, so I kept my communication to a minimum regarding my ceremony and focused on my on-site reception. Good Luck! I hope it works out for you. I hear Jellyfish weddings are awesome! My photographer said its his new favorite place to photograph and he likes the way they execute weddings. If I could do it all again I would choose Jellyfish for my reception since it is more private and the coordinator there seems to have her act together. When I called to book- she was on vacation so I moved ahead with Paradisus.

Such good advice. I have a case of the "shoulda, coulda, woulda's" because so many things went wrong or undone. I am a school teacher but I bartended for the wedding- so I was working 7 days a week. I also had an AHR. There were so many things I wanted to do that got cut bc I didn't really have much help planning my wedding. After my experience and a close friends wedding I went to this past weekend (I had inside info on what went wrong and it was similar issues I had with my wedding) I realized there is no wedding that goes off without a hitch. What's important is how you and your husband feel that day. I was so absorbed in the moment that the things that went wrong didn't really matter. After the fact however- yea they nagged at me lol

No, they will not accept a personal check. The bank wire transfer is the fastest, cheapest, and easiest- and probably also the safest.

Quote: Originally Posted by IslandGirl808 Hi ladies, I'm about to turn in my Romance Contract and put a deposit down for a date for May of 2014. There was one thing that was concerning me though, and I haven't heard back from the Romance sales person about it. It's on the 2nd page, 2nd Paragraph: "For weddings booked and/or paid to directly with the Resort: Initial deposit not exceeding USD$10,000.00 are accepted with credit card. Subsequent deposits are accepted only with wire transfers or certified check. Additional payments made with credit card after the initial deposit will be subject to a surcharge of 5% administration fee. This will be absorbed by the client. Please note that in some cases your local bank my charge an additional fee in accordance to the Exchange rate. We encourage you to check this in advance as the hotel will not be responsible for any charges." For those who have already turned in their contract... does the above mean that when you pay for the balance of the wedding package with the same credit card that you put the deposit on, that balance will be subject to a 5% admin charge? I want to make sure this is NOT the case. My interpretation of above is that anything I plan directly with the resort APART from what's included in the wedding package (i.e. Aqua, Fantasy, etc.) is subject to that 5% admin fee. Now when my balance for the original wedding package is due, Ask Me will NOT charge me 5% for that package. Is this correct? Please can someone clarify!! That is incorrect. We had the option of a bank wire transfer, certified bank check, or credit card. The 5% charge is on the total package and the wedding extras- so lets say your entire wedding cost is $10,000- that's what the 5% charge is on- the entire amount of the balance- not just the deposit. The cheapest way to pay is a bank wire transfer. We calculated each form of payment. The most expensive is paying by credit card because depending on your package- that price can soar. Sending them a bank certified check- you have to fed ex it and fed ex charged us $60 to send our documents to the church- and they were lost along the way. The wire transfer depends on your bank- but I was able to submit it online through Chase- I don't remember but the charge was less than $25 I believe and the resort also assesses a $25 fee to accept- so we ended up paying $50 as opposed to all the other options which were far more expensive.

These were my shoes- a pair of Nina's I bought for $99 at Nordtroms (Macy's also carries them). I wore them mostly for pictures and ended up changing into a pair of Nina wedges with a similar flower detail. I would share the pics of those but I have pretty ugly feet so I am not entirely in love with the shots of me wearing them lol

Girl I saw your dress in the other thread and I absolutely LOVE it. I love the strap I think you should keep it. And I think it does have somewhat of a beachy feel- not entirely, but it looks very ethereal and goddess like to me. I don't say I like many dresses unless I am being completely honest but I really do think you picked a winner. I cant wait to see you in it! I didn't look at a single dress in the store. I came in with pictures of dresses I wanted to try and they told me they had the samples but it turned out they did not. My mom was upset for me so she went to their dress room and started pulling dresses off the rack. I was frustrated so they took me away to the fitting room. I actually never touched a single dress. My mom came upstairs with my dress and said "this one" I looked at it and told her no. I tried on the consultants choice first- a $8,000 dress from some designer I can't remember and we all disliked it. Then I tried on my moms pick and everyone loved it. I didn't get that feeling right away either so I tried on 8 other dresses. I compared all of them to my moms pick so I put that back on. They put a eil and gave me a bouquet to hold and then the feeling hit me. When my dress came in and I went to inspect it I hyperventilated and started crying. I ordered ivory but it was a lot more ivory then I had remembered. My mom was like "its going to be ok" LOL. When I had my first fitting though the feelings came back. I look at my pictures now and know there was no other dress for me. So Yes, buyers remorse happens to almost every bride I think. Its because you have so much pressure to just choose one. But the day of your wedding you will feel like a queen!

We chose PPR for the same reason. While doing our TTD, our photographer took us to another resort my husband and I were considering in our initial search and we looked at each other and made that "ugh face" and shook our heads no and knew exactly what each other meant. Any resort can look nice in photos, but PPR impresses just as much in person and I think that is the key. The resort looks EXACTLY like it does in pictures. Where we did our TTD- it looked amazing in pictures but I can tell you from being there in person it did not impress in the least. My husband said he would have been pissed had we booked that resort. We wanted our guests to have the luxury experience too and PPR definitely does not disappoint. We had 2 bridal party members stay at Catalonia and while they said the service was nice, when they came to PPR they said they regretted not splurging a bit and staying with us. Yes PPR is probably one of the most expensive resorts- but you get what you pay for. We considered staying somewhere cheaper for guests but look- even our guests wished they had spent the extra money for the extra luxury. There are MINOR glitches- that someone picky like my mother complained about. To me- they were things that happen everywhere, I have been to several all inclusives and know what to expect so they didn't bother me. For example- making a reservation for dinner and getting to the restaurant to be told you aren't on the list. Even in the event that happened- we ended up being seated or we just went to the buffet. You're on vacation! Who cares about silly little things. I took a TON of pics of the various locations- Apollo ballroom, Apollo Terrace, the restaurants, the beaches, the rooms etc- to give you girls some insight but my phone was stolen at my AHR I have a few of the Chill out chic ceremony set up on the beach and the Aqua reception set up on the beach (from our wedding)... : ( I am planning on writing my review shortly and I will come back and post a link so you ladies can see it. I took a ton of pics- 1,000 to be exact and then my phone was stolen. I still have from my guests though, so I will definitely post for you girls. The resort photographs beautifully. You are all going to love it! You did not make a mistake choosing this resort.

I didn't leave lol! But I'm a 2013 bride so don't know if you wanna hear from the past brides lol

Congrats! We considered Jellyfish but it wasn't available on our date. They have a FB and their pics look great!

Hi Melissa- I just saw your post- sorry I never saw it before. Jesus Maestro church is 10 minutes from the resort. We rented two 12 passenger vans from a company called Europcar. The church is beautiful as is and requires little to no decor- we didnt have decor. The priest is the same priest who will officiate your wedding at the resort should you choose not to marry in the church- Father LaCaile. He is super sweet- but a little difficult to understand. We watched our video over and over and still can't understand some of what he's saying lol You just tell the wedding coordinator and they will book it through the resort. The church does not deal directly with couples because apparently they are inundated with requests. You have to tell your coordinator you want to get married offsite at the church and they will check availability. If you have not set a date, I suggest you give the coordinator 3-4 possibilities because the back and forth takes a few days, its easier if you give them options and they can tell you which is best.

I can FINALLY post my professional pictures! Our photographer took 4,000 between the wedding and the TTD so I couldn't decide but I tried to pick the ones that mostly showed my dress. BTW in case anyone is wondering- totally do the TTD. Our shoot was about 3 hours long, we enjoyed the alone time, I felt suuuuuuper sexy, we got amazing shots, and yes- the sand comes out because I wore my dress again at my AHR and I did not take it to the cleaners, I cleaned it in the hotel shower! GO FOR IT!!!!!!! Here's my dress that I wish I could wear again. It looks different standing and sitting.