We were married at the Paradisus Palma Real on November 10, 2012 and it was absolutely amazing – even with the thunderstorm we had that morning!  Overall, it was one of the most amazing experiences of my entire life. 

Planning

My initial planning started with my wedding planning in Miami.  Her name was Veronica.  She was very helpful, quick to respond, and answered my millions of questions!  Closer to the wedding, there was a reorg and my planner was changed to Jessica.  She didn’t miss a beat.  She had all of my info and the transfer was seamless.   About 2 weeks prior to the wedding, I began working with Massiel who is onsite at PPR.  She is so easy to work with.  Being that she is at the resort working on the weddings, you don’t always get an instant response from her but she does respond in a timely manner.  She was so wonderful to work with.  We loved her!  We worked with Rosa onsite as well.  She attended our welcome event and our wedding.  She was there to make sure everything fell into place and she did a wonderful job.

The Resort

The grounds are absolutely stunning.  Every place you look is the perfect spot for a photo.  Very picturesque all around.   We were a group of about 30 and we all stayed in the Reserve.  I highly recommend the Reserve.  There are a few extra restaurants, a special area at the beach, a kiddie pool if you’re travelling with little ones, and an overall “chill” vibe.  We generally started the day out at the beach and ended up back at the Reserve pool.  Hydro Grill right next to the pool is really good.  The staff there (and everywhere) was super accommodating. 

The rooms in the Reserve are beautiful.  We had a 1 Bedroom Suite which had plenty of room for entertaining.  It was a great room because we had a dining room area which was good for getting stuff ready for the week – i.e. the Welcome bags, wrapping the favors.  We had everyone in the bridal party over to the room to give out the gifts to the bridal party.  Finally, it’s big enough to take the “getting ready” photos the day of the wedding.  No need for the bridal suite.

Making reservations for a large group can be somewhat annoying.  I had made reservations for one night through Massiel prior to arriving.  If you can plan out what you want to do for dinner with everyone prior to getting there, the Romance team will be a great help.  Once you get there, it could be somewhat of a pain to get it done.  My suggestion is to make reservations with small groups, tell everyone where you’re going & what time.  It’s just easier to get the smaller reservations.   We were able to get help from the Reserve Front Desk Manager Alexander for 3 nights of large group reservations but overall it can just be stressful!

I’ve seen some reviews on Trip Advisor complaining about the food.  We did not have a problem with the food at all.  Every meal was simply wonderful.    I think people need to take into consideration that 5 star in the Caribbean may not be 5 star in NYC.  With that being said, this crew of NYers loved the food.  The desserts weren’t what I’m used to but they were okay.  More importantly, the wedding cake tasted amazing!  If you’re a chocolate fan, that is definitely the way to go for the cake!

The Salon

The strange thing about the salon is that it is just as dark as the rooms in the Reserve!   They have lamps that they move around to give them more light.  I get that they are trying to go with a particular ambiance in the Reserve but the salon is one spot that should be bright as day!   I had a bridal preview 2 days before the wedding.  I highly suggest this because you get to work everything out so the day of the wedding is perfect.  I also recommend bringing pictures of exactly what you want – including makeup.  I had my hair done at home and took a bunch of pics so that the stylist at PPR would be able to copy and she did a great job.  I had her put in clip in extensions as well and my hair came out really great.  Unfortunately it was super windy that day so my hair blew around and bit and I had to fix it up after the ceremony.  I did not have pics of makeup and there was definitely something lost in translation because the initial run was not good.  She got a translator and I told her what I didn’t like.  She redid it and it was perfect.  It was great that we did this at the preview as opposed to the day of the wedding.  Makes it less stressful!  While we all looked wonderful after leaving the salon, we were there for what felt like an eternity!  Be prepared - make sure you plan enough time ;)  My preview was a little over 3 hours!!!  Day of the wedding I was there for around 2.5 hours and the girls for about 2 hours.

The Welcome Party

We had the Beach BBQ the night before the wedding.  If it’s in your budget, do it!  It was such a memorable night.  We wound up extending it an extra hour because we were having such an amazing time.  The décor and location were absolutely beautiful.  We had the iPod setup for music which was sufficient.  We went with the Caribbean option and the food was amazing!  Lobster tails, steak, shrimp skewers and so much more.  It was truly an amazing night.  A beach party with family & friends in paradise - What could be better!

The Wedding

We went with the Aqua package for the wedding.  We had the ceremony at Naos Beach, the cocktail hour at Plaza Colonial, and the reception at Apollo Foyer.  We were initially having the reception at Olympus Terrace but unfortunately the weather wasn’t in our favor that day.  There was a thunderstorm that day.  Thankfully the sky cleared up long enough for us to have the ceremony, take pics, and have the cocktail hour outdoors.  We had changed the reception earlier that day.  Massiel did a wonderful job of making all of this seamless & as stress free as possible.  The Apollo Foyer was actually a lovely place to have the reception so it worked out well.  We added an hour to the wedding and I definitely recommend it.  I would have loved to add another!  We were having so much fun.  If you have to cut corners, do it on the flowers and add the hours!  The staff that worked our wedding & welcome BBQ were fun and accommodating!!! They were simply wonderful people.  We had DJ Mannia for DJ and we used HDC for Photos/Video.  The DJ was great.  Everyone was up and dancing all night long.  I can’t say enough wonderful things about HDC.  I know there are hotel fees to use them now but if there is a way around it, I would go with them.  You can check out my review of them on this site.

Overall this was a totally amazing and memorable experience.  Everyone had such an amazing time and the memories made are going to last a lifetime!!

Let me know if you have any questions.  I can’t talk about this place enough!!