rebeccalane

@samilein Thanks! I'll PM you some pictures! There are 2 photographers there, we got Christian. There is also a girl but we didnt' get to choose. I think they're both quite good, we were happy with our photos, other than the fact that we had to rush cause our ceremony was late (my fault) and we were running out of light after all the family photos. We also forgot to do a group shot, very sad about that but what can you do Food was pretty good, lots of options to choose from. We did a plated mean with an app, a main and a dessert. We opted not to do our cake for dessert and to do it later on. If you do it for dessert, they have a fruit option that you can add to your cake. i'm sure you could do ice cream as well. The cake... was amazing! We did a 2 tier exactly as it was shown in our package. We asked for all chocolate but for some reason the top tier came as Vanilla. The chocolate bottom tier was maybe the best chocolate cake I've ever had and definitely the best wedding cake i've had. I thought it was so good and we had so much left over i just kept eating it for the rest of the week! DJ Mannia was provided to us and he was amazing. You fill out a sheet they give you ahead of time that asks you what kind of music you like and what you don't like. All of your dances like entrance, first dance, father daughter, last dance etc and he downloads everything you need and takes care of that. We also had him cut some of our dances short to make more time for everyone else. It's $900 for 4 hours of DJ with lights and balloons. I think there might be an option to just have the DJ but no lights or anything? $650 maybe? I'd ask Carolina about that if you're trying to save money might be an option but I wouldn't have changed ours. It was great. Only wish it could have gone on longer

I will be back soon ladies with a better review, just trying to get back to regular life and work and home life have been neglected for so long it's a busy time Overall, the wedding turned out amazing and Carolina really does know what she's doing! For those thinking about the Bohio for the reception, do it! it's gorgeous and nicer than the Arrecife but both good options if one is not available. Cost was as expected, we did the private dinner, had a DJ and did the open bar as well. I bought extra flowers for the wedding party, paid for the resort photographer, had my hair and makeup done there and I think that was it for extras. We also had 76 adults at the wedding so we had to pay the $22 pp extra for 56 people. I did not do a beach bash but i did see a small wedding a few days after mine that had a dinner with no music at the bohio (small group maybe 30 people) and they had the beach bash for their reception. If you do a reception with DJ at the restaurant, you wouldn't need the beach bash. We were 81 people so it wouldn't have made any sense for us anyways but in case you're contemplating it. They did an amazing job at setting up the reception, the beach looked gorgeous, we got some great shots from the photographer. Carolina helped us get our entire group of rooms moved as we were placed at the Bavaro section due to space restrictions but really weren't happy with the location. She took care of it and was super helpful. I don't have any pictures of the reception as the photographer only did the ceremony and pictures after. PM me for a link to our professional shots. One regret, I did not get a group shot of everyone at the wedding. Make sure you do this! We forgot and i'm very sad we didn't get it. If you have specific questions, please ask away and I will try to get to them! Rebecca

@@samilein We have to choose a set menu and I believe that is true for any group over 14 people. I think we choose that when we get there at our meeting. They can make exceptions for allergies and kids etc. i think it's an appetizer, main, dessert plus the cake/cupcakes. I can post more details when I get back! Our welcome bags are an assortment of things, but there are so many things you can do. We got canvas bags made from vistaprint that ended up costing about $4.75 each (always great sales on vistaprint!). They have a picture, our names and our wedding date and turned out really nice. We are giving one bag per couple or one to any singles so that helped keep cost down a bit. In the bags, we are putting small sheer bags for the girls that will have a few necessities that might come in handy; razor, q-tips, cotton pads, bandaids, hair ties, bobby pins and floss sticks. Then each bag will also have a custom calendar magnet with our same pictures on it and names and date (vistaprint, $20 for 50), a loofah (dollar store $1.25 for 3), spf chapstick, pack of gum, a custom engraved shot glass with our names and date (theweddingshoppe.ca), 2 small scented tea light candles with one holder (ikea), custom matchbooks with our names and date (theweddingshoppe.ca) and a pen with our colors, names and date on them (vistaprint). We also had custom buttons made for people to wear around the resort to help identify who is there as a part of our wedding. We have a lot of people that will have never met each other so we thought that was a cute idea to help people get to know each other. Those are from Six Scent press in BC and were about $50 for 100 including shipping, I *think* that's everything Oh also, the coordinator said they would take care of handing them out to our guests when they check in so we are labeling each bag with a tag and the guests names on them. For the kids, we only have 3 toddlers and 2 babies, most are in the wedding so I had custom canvas bags made for them (vistaprint again) with their name on them, and put some coloring books, crayons, playdough, balloons and a keepsake book for being in the wedding. The babies will also get something small so that they aren't excluded Like I said, there are so many things you can do. For one wedding we received beach balls with their names and date on them, another we received drawstring shoe bags with a double walled plastic tumbler each. Of course it depends on your budget and how many are coming.The smaller the group, the more significant you can make the gifts without going over budget. I think we managed to get a lot of things in our bags for not to much. Travel accessories, tumblers, small keepsakes etc are all good ideas and very useful. Think about what you'd appreciate if you were attending, I found that helped me out a lot! As for the open bar, that's a weird one that always irked me. Why we pay for booze at the wedding at an all-inclusive resort is just frustrating. I was told that is it $16 per person for bar service above just wine, beer and soda. Kids under 18 are not included and I think you can exclude numbers for people that don't drink but that's hearsay It's for 3 hours of bar service so that you can have other hard alcohol available. This is probably the most disappointing thing I've found out so far. all other destination weddings I've been to you have been able to order from the waiters any drink you can get at any other bar on the resort. Bit of a damper to have to pay more for this. But it's unfortunately a necessary evil as I don't expect people to drink beer and wine all night. The good thing is I put that in my budget long ago when I first caught wind of it so it's not an unexpected cost later on. Hope that helps!

@@Meandhim Most people deposited before the deadline, we had a couple stragglers that my TA managed to get the group rate for still and a handful that have booked last minute. So I'd say we pretty much knew the final numbers by the deposit deadline, maybe plan for a handful more? It's also a pretty expensive time to travel so it was unlikely that people thought they would get a better deal by waiting so that might have helped more people book early. We wanted to keep costs down and from all the destination wedding folk I've talked to and all the ones I've been to, at the end of the day, you're in paradise and the little things don't really matter or get noticed. Don't get too caught up in those things is my best advice. I've had to remind myself of that often cause it's easy to get caught up in it all and get stressed out on Pinterest that your wedding won't live up Just remember, its a beautiful location and everyone is just happy to be on vacation. Nobody remembers the centerpieces Our package comes with most of the things we'd need and a few perks. I liked the colors of the Ocean Pearl package but I could have easily gone with a cheaper one. We had to pay $22 per person above the 20 the package includes. We opted for a private reception at one of the buffet restaurants near the beach. It isn't set it stone but I can't imagine why we wouldn't get it. We are going with whatever centre pieces are included. The private reception is $1060 for the use of the restaurant. We are getting the DJ for all 4 hours of the reception with a lights and balloons and all that for $900. There is a cheaper option with just a basic music setup, no lights etc for $550 I was told. Additional costs include bridesmaid bouquets that will be between $25-$40 each for us based on what I asked for (yet to be picked) and the boutonnieres and corsages for groomsmen and parents, about $25-$35 each. And we are going with the resort photographer which will be around $650 I'm estimating. I just couldn't justify the amount to bring in an off resort photographer. We wanted costs low and at the end of the day we only need a handful of good shots. And who doesn't have a camera these days, i'm sure we'll have plenty to choose from The only decorations we're bringing are some little paper things for the tables, small cards for our seating plan, table numbers and holders and a guest book alternative thing. We are opting out of the bouquet and garter toss and doing an anniversary dance instead so we bought a small gift for that. The next biggest cost for us was our OOT bags. That is costing us about $850 for all the guest and a handful of kids. And also our bridal party and parent gifts, totaling about $1400 (we went a little overboard @@samilein That's a pretty good estimate. The killer for us is the terrible canadian dollar right now The wedding costs at the resort are around $7k but with the exchange we'll be pushing $9k. On top of that cost is all the extras (decorations, dress, clothes, guest gifts, miscellaneous mr and mrs items, bridal party and parent gifts etc ) Of course you can spend more very easily. There are lots of centre pieces to choose from that range from $12-$200 each, beach bash (sounds great but seemed too pricey for us), photography, flowers etc. Lots of places to save though too! Just remember, it's a beautiful piece of paradise and doesn't need a whole bunch of decoration. Just let that and your and your new hubby be the focus and it will be great! Let me know if I can be more specific about anything, I know I looked here quite a bit for some guidance so I'd love to be of help to others!

I'm getting married at the Grand Palladium Palace in Punta Cana in 3 weeks! I thought I should post and let everyone know if they have questions I can try and answer them. I"m sure I'll have better answers after the wedding but I know from experience, all the help and info you can gather can really make a difference We have a group of about 70 people traveling from 5 different cites in Canada. We chose the Ocean Pearl package and are all staying in the Palace section. If you think I can help with anything let me know and I'll try to find some time to help out! Rebecca