When researching where to have my destination wedding I found very little to no useful information on the Bavaro Princess. I went for it and booked it anyways and promised myself I would get a review up as soon as possible so that no one else would miss out on this stunning destination for a wedding.

Pre wedding preperation:

So my first word of advice is if you want to get legally married in Punta Cana book your date as soon as you have decided. There is one judge so if you have a desired date and time you want to make sure you seal the deal ASAP. As well there is some paper work that you need to have translated. We went directly to the Dominican Consulate to do our documents so it cost us around $550. I booked the judge through Francelia the wedding coordinator at the resort. I know many reviews mention that she is quite delayed on response when it comes to communication. Yes you do have to wait, but keep in mind she is organizing several weddings a day at four resorts. That means catering to the bridal needs of many needy brides. I tried to ask all my questions well in advance so that I didn't panic to have an answer. Overall from when I sent an email it took about 3 weeks to get a response on average. She was an absolute sweetheart to meet and you can tell you loves her job and loves helping people to declare their love. Love it!

Booking Destination

I am a Canadian bride and initially had a destination wedding coordinator. We parted ways. I booked my vacation directly with Sunwings group department and saved a boatload. They provide wedding dress storage on the plane. I recommend upgrading to elite plus so that you have extra luggage weight if you are bringing things away for the wedding.

Services for Wedding

So if you get married at Bavaro Princess you have to use their photographer which is Photo Caribe. We were exceptionally pleased with the results.

You have the option of booking a private beach party for the reception. We opted out of that and had the dinner in the Italian restaurant El Gaucho, which was included in our package. Everyone raved it was the best meal all week. Then we hired DJ Mannia to do a dance party afterwards and paid for a private bar from the Bavaro princess.

The Bavaro princess packages include a lot of services that you would have to pay a lot extra for if you booked a 'free wedding'. Remember those free weddings don't ever come free. We booked the magical package, which included services for up to 40 guests. It cost 2045USD (in 2012)

We got:

- his and her massages 20 mins

- brides hair and nails

-grooms boutonniere and brides bouquet

-caribbean trio that plays for one hour during ceremony

- floral wedding arch

- dinner for 40 guests and wedding cake for 40 guests

- champagne toast after photos

- basic photo package with 25 photos

- the cost of the judge and preparation of the marriage certificates and mailing of them

- breakfast in bed after the wedding

- private dinner at special restaurant

The Wedding Day 

Our ceremony was booked for 4pm on May 2nd. We had a brief meeting with Francelia to tie up the final details a few days before the wedding. That took an hour therefore it cuts in to very little time of your overall vacation. 

I was one of those lucky destination brides where after several days of sunshine it decided to rain buckets down on my wedding day. I gave my mom my hair appointment and one of my bridesmaids was a hair dresser and did mine. My mom was very pleased with their work, but she is fluent in Spanish which made communication easier. I would bring a picture so you don't encounter a language barrier or perhaps brush up on the basics.

When my bridesmaids were placing me in my dress we wanted to toast the day. We called the coordinator and before we knew it two bottles of champagne were brought to the room. We decided to get married right on the beach as that was my dream. The rain cleared enough for that brief hour in the afternoon to keep this possible. The beach ceremony is less private, but i'll be the first to admit I loved the attention on my wedding day. Your alternate choice would be the wedding gazebo which is much more private. The groom and his men arrive first and Francelia gets them all set up. Then the decorated tram cart arrives to pick up the bride and her party.

The ceremony was done in Spanish and Francelia translated. The caribbean trio was beautiful and really added to the mood of the ceremony. Basic flowers were included with the arch. As well as flowers to line the aisle. I brought rose petals to decorate the aisle itself. Chair covers and white sashes were included. The bouquet I included in the picture is actually one of my bridesmaids. We made those bouquets as it was quite expensive to purchase ones for them at the resort. We made them using real touch flowers and then the florist put calla lillies in my bouquet to match.

Once the ceremony was done all the guests were served champagne and pictures begun. I should mention we upgraded our photo package paying an additional $500. Then our photo shoot got rained out. Photo Caribe was great and offered to do a shoot with my husband and I on a sunny day. So we got back in our wedding gear a few days later and did an incredible shoot and a trash the dress. Bonus got to wear the dress twice!

Once photos were completed we had our dinner in El Gaucho steak house. You have a beautiful view of the beach. They served our cake and it was all very nice as we had a private section for our group of 40. You are still in the restaurant but have your own corner.

Now this is the only part of the day with a big hiccup. Because the rain had now turned into a thunderstorm originally we had booked DJ Mannia with the light up dance floor to be right on the beach. This clearly was no longer an option so we were notified that our party had been moved to a room in the lobby. We had about 40 guests and trying to get a tram from the beach area to the lobby was exceptionally difficult. We ended up 40 minutes late for our reception, which we had paid the DJ for. We couldn't extend the party to make up for it as the DJ was only allowed at the resort until midnight. At the time this seemed like a massive deal. It is your wedding day and you plan it a certain way in your mind, but things don't always pan out that way. I was quite frazzled at the beginning of the reception, but in the end once everyone finally made it we all had an absolute blast. I was so greatful I ordered the light up dance floor from DJ Mannia or else we literally would have been dancing on a boring carpet floor. The bartender we hired ($10 bucks per hour per guest) was extremely generous with his shots, had a massive variety of alcohol and was thoroughly entertaining. We had an incredible time.

Overall I know there is very little to no information when getting married at Bavaro Princess on here. Please feel free to ask questions as I know I had a million in the planning process and Francelia does take time to respond.

All our guests were exceptionally impressed with this resort. The rooms are stunning, the grounds are magnificent, the service was excellent and they had a blast at our wedding. The only con was that they weren't the prepared for those that it rains on their wedding in regards to tram transportation, but other than that all went without a hitch when we got hitched!