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Jenn963 - which tour operator did you go with?

Thanks for the info, Jenn963!

Hi Melissa Epple.... congrats on you recent wedding! When you say the beach party cost you $300, what does that include? A dj and dance floor? Thanks!

Congrats, Danielle03! It takes a lot of dedication and hard work... you should be very proud of yourself!

Thanks, Dazeydawl!

Has anyone heard of the company EPH Apparel? They are out of Winnipeg and make custom suits. We are considering having them do our guys' suits, but can't find any reviews, good or bad, anywhere. Any opinions/feedback from brides who have dealt with them would be greatly appreciated!

I am getting married at the GP Bavaro in november. We're working with a travel agent in the Toronto area, but I'm not convinced that she got any great deals for our guests. When is your wedding?

Have you tried the company's website?

Thanks... I emailed her agaim amd she quickly responded

Jenmheadrick- just curious, how long does it usually take for you to get a response from Carolina? I emailed her last week but haven't heard back.

We're meeting with the photographer on saturday afternoon, so I'll send you all of her info afterwards!

Hi jenmheadrick! I would greatly appreciate it if you would share any information/price lists/pics! My email address is [email protected] . Thanks so much... and best of luck to you during these last couple of months!

I think I already mentioned it, but we are seriously looking at bringing our own photographer from home. I would be happy to share her information and work samples with you if you're interested. Since our weddings are the same week, it might be very beneficial for us to both work with the same photographer.

We could always create a page

that's too bad that Absolute Wedsite didn't work out for you, but at least your travel agent is making you feel better I guess i did misunderstand you... i though you said you were going to check out the resort in February... ahhhh how nice would that be! Congrats on getting your date confirmed - it makes it feel that much more "real", doesn't it? for the photographer, our wedding planner told us that most resorts wave the outside vendor fee if you have the vendor (photographer, dj, etc) stay at the resort for a few nights. since our photographer would be staying all week, we should be able to get that fee waived - hopefully! but awesome for you for having a family/friend who does photography, that's a great way to save some $$. i feel like wedding planning is the only thing on my mind these days. it's going to be a long 9 months!

Hi jspot101- we're doing a civil ceremony in DR in november. Our wedding planner recommended this site www.wedo.com/do to get our legal documents.

I love the cups! Can you stack them together nicely for easy packing?

Hi Ladies!! I'm also getting married on the Grand Palladium property in Punta Cana, but we're doing it on the Bavaro side. I'm excited to chat with you all as we all go through the prep and planning stages! Is anyone considering doing a beach BBQ after the ceremony?

Congrats and good luck, jenmheadrick!

Hi Jenn963! I've never been to the resort, so I'd love to hear how your trip goes next month! We sent out email invitations in October and then paper invitations at the beginning of December. In total, i think we invited around 150 people. A few people booked before Christmas, but the majority only booked during the last couple of weeks. It was quite stressful because we had to guestimate the number of guests we thought would come and put down a non-refundable $250 dollar deposit for each. With regards to using Luxe, there are so many things that we're discovering after the fact that are frustrating. For instance, they negotiated our rate with Transat before the rates were even posted online for anybody else, but we trusted that we would get a good deal since we were putting down deposits for 20 rooms. Low and behold, when the public rates actually came out about a month later, they were $14 less than what our contract was. After asking our travel agent if there was an opportunity to price match, she came back and said that we have one opportunity up to 100 days prior to departure, and we have to find the exact same trip (i.e. has to be from Transat for the same room type, same dates, same EVERYTHING) and there has to be available (still not quite sure what that means). Basically, we have to keep an eye on the rates, and once we see one that we want to attempt to challenge, they will go back to Transat and request a price reduction, but it's not guaranteed that we'll get it. So needless to say, it's been frustrating. We have also signed on for Wedding Planning services from Luxe. They will negotiate rates with the resort for things like the reception and guarantee to save you at least what you paid for the wedding planning. We haven't started that part yet because we wanted to wait and see how many guests we have. Hopefully that is more fun and less stressful than the travel arrangements. When you go in November, are you only going for one week? We've decided to fly down on Wednesday, October 30, whereas the rest of our group will be coming on the saturday. That way we have time to relax before everyone gets there and we can get the OOT bags ready and greet all of our guests once they arrive. (on that note, we ended up booking our additional flight on our own rather than with Luxe because they couldn't get us any deals. in the end, we have to pay for the regular one week trip - november 2-9, as well as the extra flight on the oct. 30). Do you know what you're doing for a photographer? There's a photographer in Whitby who we used for our engagement pics, my fiance did family pics with her in the past and the family of a friend of ours uses her all the time, so we're going to try to get her to come down with us. It might end up being a little pricey because her fee will probably be the trip plus an actual fee for her services, but we'll start getting that set up soon. Are you making OOT bags? i've seen so many great ideas on these forums... i can't wait to get started on them!

Hi BRIDE2B1130 and Jenn963! It's great to hear from other brides who are getting married at the same resort and around the same time as us! We have our ceremony booked for Nov. 5 at 4 pm, and so far we have 33 guests booked. We're thinking of doing a beach bbq, but we haven't planned any of that yet. Jenn963, did you use a specific travel agent or booking company? We used Luxe Destination Weddings, and they are in Toronto. I'd love to hear more from you ladies over the next 9 months!

As a side note to my previous post, I'd caution you to be careful of the number of rooms you anticipate filling. With luxe, you're required to put down deposits for the number of people you think will come (in our case, this was $250/person). This deposit is non-refundable for the spots you don't use, and there are restrictions to the group such as what airport everyone flies from and what dates everyone travels.

We're using LUXE Destination Weddings. The company specializes in travel and planning for destination weddings. We've had a few ups and downs along the way, but I think that's more because of personal expectations. If you buy a planning package from them, they guarantee to save you at least that much towards vendor costs (photographer, Reception costs, etc.). So far they've helped us pick our resort, negotiated our rates for the trip and are the contacts for all of our guests questions. Feel free to pm me if you'd like to know more.

Hi JMcA! I'm getting married at the Grand Palladium Bavaro in nov 2013

Thanks AllieH!