EVKnowsitall

Hey Cokonlove, I had a different wedding date of March 2013. When I went dress shopping in April they told me it would take the designer 8 months to produce the dress. I guess it depends on who is making the dress but the window of time to shop varies for each bride so don't be scared! But try to book an appointment soon- just in case you fall in love with a dress and they tell you it takes a long time to make. They told me some brides feel a year is too soon but the more time on your side the better because you have more options. Plus- it definitely was my favorite part of the process. We went to a Sunday sangria brunch to celebrate after! Some brides get anxiety over dress shopping. My fiend has been twice and says she hasn't seen anything she likes, so giving yourself ample time Is best.

Catering hall* not steering hall- damn you auto correct hahaha Also- my previous post before this one is in moderation so this post might not make sense because it's out of sequence. I will say this- Bianca my wedding coordinator handled a very irate email from me professionally. She tried to assure me that I wouldn't see the other bride and that despite my disappointment with Olympus Terrace being booked, there were other spaces we could use. I knew it was always a possibility that 2 weddings could be booked per day, but hoped against all hopes, no one would request our date after I booked. Summer brides beware- May-July are busy seasons and you need to prepare mentally for another wedding to be booked on the same day. but I'll get over it, because I'm marrying my love, we have the photographer we wanted, we have the DJ we wanted, we were able to book the priest so we could have a traditional Catholic wedding which was non-negotiable, and there are bigger fish to fry than where our reception will take place. I will try to play nice lol

Oct 2012 bride- your wedding is so soon! Congrats you must be so excited! I also love the one shoulder strap and the ruching. I love how every dress I see on this thread fits the bride. Nothing worse than an ill fitting dress. A lot of times the styles we think look good on us don't and its better to let go of preconceived notions and go with what suits our shape and personality. Congrats to all the gorgeous brides on finding the one...twice in life lol

Well I got them to admit there's another wedding on our date- a date I picked bc there were no weddings scheduled that day. I'm thrilled. That's why we went with Paradisus to avoid this. It was even one of my non-negotiables when we thought of getting married stateside. I refused to look at steering halls that hosted multiple weddings no matter how beautiful they were. And now a day I wanted to be my own will be shared. On top of that- even though I booked first, the other wedding apparently chose their reception location and it was the same I requested and they are claiming though I booked first, they requested it first. So I don't even get a consolation. Not a good day in the wedding world for me.

Mel and Special K- thank you! Yesterday I had my dress inspection and I almost cried- not in a good way either lol. It didn't look the way I remembered but then again I wasn't able to try it on because alterations was closed so I had to inspect it on a hanger. It's also ivory though in this pic and in my kind I swore it was white. They said its normal for a bride to fret at fittings because the gap of time that goes by is big and brides forget. I'm sure it will be just fine but I did have to take a deep breath. So much stress for a dress! Chantal- I think you make a stunning bride. I love your dress. Peach- everyone has voted but I say first one as well.

Hey Angel, I agree with Erica . It's tough and I'm actually being pulled in different directions as well. My mother made a comment that she wanted "just one of her daughters to have a real wedding" and I said "so because it's away and less people are coming its not real?" How's this for backlash- both of my sisters helped me reach the decision to do a destination wedding, were all for it & now that it's time to book rooms are saying I'm out of mind because it's too much money and I'm inconsiderate. We also sent our Save The Dates a year in advance. People pay for vacations and all sorts of other extravagances. We also used a travel agent and people only had to pay a $50 deposit and the rest is due 2 months before the wedding. People can pay as they go. Ultimately everyone will have something to say so I resolved myself to saying- Elvin and I will be there whoever wants to join us- please come, whoever can't make it- look at pictures. People who can't come have the rest of your married life to see other life milestones. A wedding is one day. If I listened to everyone else- we would not do a destination wedding. And FYI- our budget for our wedding in DR is $20,000- that's for flights, hotel, photography, DJ, church fees, premarital class, boarding our dog (I'm sad she can't come lol), souvenirs, all the bells and whistles. A wedding stateside was $20,000 for the catering hall alone so in total it would have been $40-50,000. I'd rather save our money and buy a house! Plus you cannot beat a week long celebration in paradise! Ultimately it's what's best for you and your fiancé. Don't let anyone sway you. Close your eyes and dream about your wedding. However you envision it is the way you should execute it. Start your lives together on your terms not anyone else's.

Thanks so much ladies! You're all very sweet and I'm blushing lol

Beautiful wedding and photography. I love her dress!

Thanks Laura, Court and Tulumbride! It's nice to be able to show someone! It was the second dress I tried on and I thought it was missing something so I tried on more but kept comparing everything to this dress and the saleslady insisted I put it back on but this time she gave me a veil and bouquet and presto! Hence the cheesy grin haha. I am going to go with the Cathedral veil because we are getting married inside a church with the reception at the resort. So wind wise I should be ok. I'm also going to make a similar bouquet because the one I'm holding is $450 and I can make a nicer one for less, but it gave me the idea of having a jewelry bouquet as opposed to fresh flowers. I honestly did not think I would like this style. I walked right past it. My mother picked it up. I didn't even like it on the hanger but agreed to try it on. Guess mom knows best! I bought my dress at a place called Bridal Reflections in Massapequa, Long Island. The dress was designed by their in house designer. His name is Angel something- I forget. They told me it would take 8 months to make. He made it in 4. It's already done and being held in a vault bc its way too soon to have in my house with my dog and Fiance. I'm going to inspect it tomorrow. Dress shopping by far has been the best part of the process!

Here's my dress! I had to sneak away from the fiance- Funny story- My mother took these photos and wouldn't let me have them because she was afraid I would show my friends and family! So when she wasn't looking, I emailed them to myself lol. I look at my dress almost everyday, and No, I haven't showed the pics to anyone, but showing them on this forum should get it out of my system. I thought I had dress regret when I came on this forum and watched "Say Yes to the Dress" and other wedding shows, but the more and more I look at it, the more I realize I picked the right dress for me. Hope you all like it! It was the 2nd dress I tried on. I tried on 8 more dresses and none of them compared to this one. The saleslady said "Let's put the second one on again" and the 2nd time I wore it, I knew!

LL17- do you have pictures of Olympus Terrace? What about Gabi Terrace? We are getting married at the Jesus Maestro Church but still need a cocktail hour space and a reception space. Bianca sent me a package of locations but it doesn't say anything about paying the $9,000 privatization fee for using the Gabi Beach Restaurant as a location. It makes it seem like you can play music and have a reception there and its gorgeous- but I think you have to pay the $9,000 fee to use it for a wedding- which we clearly would not do lol.

Wow DP- just checked your website out. Its amazing! Did you design it yourself? It looks so professional! I loved your engagement photos as well.

Sorry ladies for all the typos! I usually reply from my phone and it's difficult to see! Haha I'm not a refer. I'm a teacher! :eek:

Hello Angel, Thanks for the well wishes and congrats to you as well. Don't be sorry for questions. I asked a ton and am sure I'll have more as well. Also- once you pick your resort don't be afraid to ask your coordinator. I bombard mine with questions all the time haha. She is very quick to respond. We chose July because we've actually been engaged since November 2011. We wanted a summer wedding because I'm a refer and I would be off from school, but summer 2012 was too short of a notice we felt- and not enough time for us to save up either. July is not any more expensive. In fact- I found the flights from NY to be their cheapest. My husband to be is Dominican and travels there and he knew which times to avoid. For example- Easter is Semana Santa and a huge celebration so End of March-April flights can be pricey . Also around Christmas, and end of August because families are traveling back from vacation to go back to school. We scheduled with that in mind. Like DP- we booked our desired dates with slight variations at multiple resorts. The only resort requiring a deposit was Paradisus. We left reservations at Majestic and Dreams because they held the date for two weeks without a payment while we compared the three properties. We had our own travel agent. Just made things easier when people wanted questions answered. We made business cards for her and sent them with our Save the dates. Our photographer is Phil Steingard. I wanted him from the moment we decided on DR but bc of the fee we almost went with Arrecife. Arrecife's website is outdated but when we went to thee FB we liked their pictures. They need to put the pictures from FB on their website- they are way more impressive. We were going to go with the Aqua package. We considered the Tailor made because it had the extra cocktail reception for guest but we figured we could save money by just making a reservation. It is after all an all inclusive and people paid a lot of money to be there lol I don't think we can justify spending extra for drinks and food. That package is costly and we would rather buy a less expensive package and add the DJ and dance floor and extras to the wedding. We considered Mexico as well because we stayed at Secrets and loved it. However, my fiancé went to visit his family in DR and they could not understand why we would have our wedding in Mexico and exclude them. Also, the flight was shorter to DR and people seemed less worried about traveling there. I say try something new! My fiancé is Dominicsn- born there but he has never been to Punta Cana haha. We are also thinking of having a small reception at home but it would before. The reason? We had already booked a DJ and a catering hall before we decided to do a destination wedding. Te DJ would not refund our $1,500 deposit. We figured- we already gave him half, might as well make him work. We are just doing open bar, salad, pasta, carving station, and hors d'ouevers with DJ. It will be the day we get legally married at the courthouse stateside. We are calling it a send off party. We are not telling anyone we are actually getting married that day- just that we are getting our license. We are getting married in the church in DR but the church said we could do a legal wedding in the states before we got to DR. It's easier than doing the paper work in DR, translating the documents, and waiting 3-6 months to have them shipped.

Hey DP, I didn't mean my post in that way. I just meant to comfort brides who felt shuffled because that isn't how it was explained to me and there seemed to be a few concerned brides on this thread. Perhaps they dealt with you first and in sensing your frustration stopped calling is a restructuring and gave me the sugar coated version. You of course can use this forum to say what you want. I didn't mean to invalidate your concerns, just wanted to ease them.

Gorgeous gown! I love it, looks ethereal.

Hey All First- to everyone who thinks Lauren disappeared and you were passed on- that's not how it works. Paradisus has different people in different positions. Lauren is not a wedding coordinator, she is a sales rep and one of the first people you talk to just to book a date. Once thats booked you work with a "Romance Planner"- and that's where Bianca comes in. Roughly 45 days before your actual wedding, you will be put in touch with a "Romance Manager" who is in DR and will execute the details of your wedding. It isn't like anyone was passed on or abandoned. I just thought I should explain that so brides who feel jilted would understand that you are just working with several coordinators- each who have their own particular positions. It's a good thing! Not a bad one! Kel- I am so sorry your TA sucks- my TA has been my saving grace. But she was able to get me the same rates as the deal Paradisus was offering, so I will be blocking the ten rooms. I don't know where you live but I can ask her if it would be ok to provide her info to you. Not sure if location matters. For the "new" brides WELCOME!!! I was torn between Paradisus and Majestic and in some ways- I feel like I should have gone with Majestic. The biggest drawback for me with Paradisus is the ridiculous astronomical outside photography fee. Also- we wanted a Catholic church ceremony and Majestic has an on-site chapel and Paradisus doesn't. I'll give you my pro list of why we ultimately went with Paradisus for those of you who are concerned: 1) The FI listed Paradisus as his first choice. We also had our parents rank the resorts and Paradisus was everyone's first choice. (not mine, I needed more convincing lol) 2) The exclusivity in terms of # of weddings. I bought a calling card and actually spoke to several resort coordinators. On the dates we wanted, Majestic told me they had 3-5 weddings already booked. Not to be picky McGee but I just don't want to bump into 3-5 other weddings on my day. The coordinator also rubbed me the wrong way when she told me that I needed to be flexible in my dates bc Fridays and Saturdays book well in advance and I should be wiling to get married on a Wednesday. I was calling in June- July- My wedding is in July- I thought a year was enough advance time. She actually almost hung up the phone saying "I don't know what you want to do because your'e not helping me help you and I have no answer for you". BURN! 3) The reviews of Paradisus on every forum were glowing. There was not one bad comment- save for people who complained about seaweed on the beach and bugs which makes me laugh bc um hello... its the Caribbean. 4) There were more restaurant options in Paradisus than any other resort. Having traveled to all inclusives in many locations- If the resort isn't at full capacity, many restaurants will close and your options are limited. The fact that there were so many options at Paradisus means even if one or two are closed, there will be plenty of space to mangia mangia. 5) Upfront Honesty- I haven't felt like there have been hidden fees. Everything is really transparent- especially once you receive the Wedding Calculator. Other resorts didnt require a deposit- this one does- that to me equals security. Money makes a contract, so I feel secure in our date and that our preferences won't change. STILL- our photographer tells us to keep every email. 6) Lastly- every vendor- my photographer, my TA, and vendors we spoke with said- "You will not be disappointed. You have hands down chose the most beautiful resort in all of the Dominican Republic." I know the only one comparable in price is Hard Rock- which had more of a vegas feel and less of the romantic feel we wanted and Sanctuary Cap Cana- which is still being developed and hasn't hosted many weddings yet. Hearing vendors say that makes me happy. So rest assured- there will be hiccups, but everything happens for a reason! If we picked another resort- we would have had a different date and our dream photographer would not have been available! Clearly I like to talk- so any newbies with questions feel free to PM me or reply to the thread. I check back often!

LL117 please PM your pics to me as well. Is anyone having issues with friends/family complaining about packages? Why prices did you get? My travel agent gave me prices that I think are reasonable (but I travel a lot) but some people I didn't expect to complain are doing just that. And it's the same people who told me a destination wedding would be a better option than a stateside wedding so I'm a little perturbed.

Good call. I enlisted a TA as well. What I like about having one is our guests can pay a deposit and pay her off slowly on a payment plan instead of paying in one shot. I love mine, she is phenomenal!

Hello Paradisus Friends- I was so excited because I spent all day and night working on my website for my guests and I thought to share it for ideas. I've come a long way from the scatter-brained bride! It was a little of a pain to make, but well worth it. I think it is ESSENTIAL for a Destination Wedding! http://ElvinAndEvelyn.ourwedding.com Our Save The Dates finally arrived and we are mailing them out on Thursday. They are Magnets so we came up with the idea of enclosing a small business card- one side is our Travel Agents information and the other side has our wedding URL so people can stay up to date using our website. Then our guests can just use our Save the Date magnet to hold up the business card and we will become a constant reminder when they go to grab a drink! We bought the business card stationery from Staples, and also purchased envelope sealers ($1.99 for 20 and they make the envelope look a little fancier!), and clear address labels so we wouldn't have to handwrite everything (we both have HORRIBLE handwriting). Our Save The Dates were ordered from Wedding Paper Divas. They are reliable for Destination weddings since their turnaround time is quick. I "liked" them on FB and got a discount code for 20% off my Save the Date order- my total for 50 magnets and 60 envelopes (ordered extra in case of mistakes- with Rush shipping) came out to a whopping $87. I'm all for DIY but not when DIY costs just as much or is comparable in price and causes a massive headache! We will also most likely order our invites from there as well. I got free samples from David's Bridal and did not like them at all. WPD has a free sample code as well and we ordered samples that will arrive soon. I plan to embellish them myself with rhinestones and ribbons before sending them out.

Hey Kelly- The same happened to me. I called on the 15th to reserve a room block but they wouldn't let me which got me a little irritated because they were telling me the offer expired and I said "yes I know, it EXPIRES today, I should still be able to book the rooms" It was difficult for me because we only booked and confirmed our date a week before the expiration so I couldn't really get people to block rooms and I clearly haven't sent invites out LOL so I didn't have a good sense of who was coming. Cecilia told me the same thing- that they are working on a new deal. I told her I hope the price is better than the last one and she said "I hope so too" which indicates to me that the prices could rise. Lets pray they don't. We are also on a budget but more concerned about our family and friends being able to afford the rooms. I also have a TA. She said if we book through the hotel, there's nothing she can do for group rates. I asked her to look into rates while I await Cecilia's info. I'll go with whichever is cheaper.

DP1- Who was your Romance Salesperson? I had Lauren and she was great. The way I understand it is that you are assigned a romance sales agent (Lauren was ours) and then once you pay the deposit to hold the date and its confirmed, she passes your information to a romance planner (Bianca is ours). The romance planner handles all the details of the wedding and will call you 6-4 months before to finalize everything. Then you are set up with a Romance Manager who is based at the resort and actually executes the plans you make with the Romance planner. I actually like this set up and it was one of the things that attracted me to Paradisus- I dealt unsuccessfully with wedding coordinators at two separate resorts and I wanted a no fuss no muss experience so I didn't book at those resorts. I called Lauren (use the 877 number) and asked about the wedding calculator because other ladies on this thread discussed it. Lauren sent me the necessary paperwork to book my date and I faxed it back. Once the charge went through, she sent me an email explaining the whole process up above and with a confirmed and dated contract, the wedding calculator again, and a planning guide. The guide is a lengthy document that you fill out and send back anytime before the phone call. It has every nook and cranny covered from lighting, flowers, locations etc. I'm sorry you haven't had a necessarily positive experience but don't lose faith! I have literally spent hours of my life like a neurotic person reading reviews and that's how I came to Paradisus. It has the best reviews on every website I visited. My friend was also in DR and stayed at a resort I was considering and delivered some disconcerting news to me that helped me not choose that one. I also have been in communication with a photographer I had hoped to use and she gave me the scoop on resorts too. So trust when I say you're getting married at the right one! Her name is ***** Nova and here's a Paradisus Wedding she photographed- she's actually has done quite a few at Paradisus. Unfortunately she isn't available on our date which makes me sad but she might be if other ladies are interested. She lives in Punta Cana http://www.*****novablog.com/siobhan-nick-paradisus-palma-real-wedding-punta-cana/ Sorry for the super long post! I'm wordy, I know lol

Nice. My fiancé was born in DR but his fam is from the capital. How far is that church from the resort? We are still waiting to hear back from Jesus Maestro parish which is ten minutes away but they are taking a long time and I'm holding off on sending my save the dates bc I have my wart set on a traditional catholic church ceremony and was willing to work around the church's schedule. Once I nail down those details I'll be more relaxed. Thank you for the kind wishes.