Dreams Punta Cana Brides

[JENISE]

Hey Girls,

 

Michael put a little slideshow on YouTube with some of our pics. Enjoy!

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/caribbeanemotions#p/c/8286FF5C5787B741/21/fzPyD5o7WHs

[shellymr83]

Hey Jenn!

 

Wow you sound like you are totally organized!  We are getting married May 20th.  I am also getting my Save the Dates out in the next few days and I am putting the finishing touches on our website.  I am having problems with TA though and some family members complaining about their prices...., which is not fun!  Do you have anyone booked yet?  Are you having a welcome dinner or a rehearsal dinner?

 

 

Jenise, you're pictures looked great!

 

Michelle

[welljen]

Hey Michelle,

 

Thanks for thinking I'm organized, my fiance thinks I'm a little obsessed

Yeah, unfortunately family members complaining about prices seems to be a common rite of passage for all of us destination brides When we sent out a preliminary email with the early booking prices we got a lot of flack from people, but after reading through a few of the threads on this site and reminding ourselves again of why we know this is the right decision for our wedding, we were better able to deal with it - although it was one of the more serious disagreements we've had in quite a while.

Bottom line is that we've realized that for some of our family and friends the idea of a beach vacation at an all-inclusive resort just isn't appealing to them at all (strange I know ), and no matter how much they love us it really is a lot to ask someone to put down over $1000 on a trip they already know they aren't all that keen on - regardless of how much they would like to be there to see us get married.

 

Right now we have about 14 people that have said they are definitely coming and a few others that have said they will be in a better position to book something in the new year. 

 

We weren't really planning on having a traditional "rehearsal dinner" before the wedding, instead we wanted to host a dinner at a restaurant in our home town with the immediate family and bridal party. We are undecided on the welcome dinner at the resort, as it all depends on when exactly people are arriving, since some of our guests have been researching rates and have noticed that the prices are a bit cheaper when you leave mid-week. If there is a large number of people their in advance, we had thought about just booking one of the a la carte restaurants, instead of having a formal event. 

 

Let me know if you have any other questions. Have you received a sample of some of their floral arrangements? If you need it, PM me with your email address and I'll send them along.

 

Jenn

[Eliana]

OMG JENISE YOU LOOKEEDD AMAZING!!! I LOVE YOUR PICS! CONGRATS ON YOUR WEDDING!

Originally Posted by JENISE 

Hey Girls,

 

Michael put a little slideshow on YouTube with some of our pics. Enjoy!

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/caribbeanemotions#p/c/8286FF5C5787B741/21/fzPyD5o7WHs

[PynkLemonade]

Jenise, love the pics!!! You were stunning Congrats to all the new bride to be's on the forum and happy planning, you won't be disappointed in Dreams at all!

[cristinimartini]

Jenise!!

 

You KNOW I LOVE those pics!!!! Looking at them makes me smile again and again:-) I'm so glad you two had a fabulous time, but also more importantly that you're back!!! LOL...

 

By the way, I have a bottle of B*tch...you want it?

 

hehehehehe

[firenzerose]

Ok! So this is kind of ridiculous. I've been following this thread for nearly 8 months since I started planning our destination wedding at the DPC, but NEVER contributed anything. I know it's awful. My fiance, Izzy, and I are taking a very casual, laid back approach to putting everything together. So we're not doing much, in terms of favors, STDs (didn't bother with those), etc. The honest truth is, we're broke! ; ) LOL! Can't really stretch for much. 

 

Anywho, I wanted to contribute to the conversation in terms of booking process. I was working with a TA local to my area, to book our arrangements and my guests. That didn't turn out so well. Our guests, friends and family alike, are more concerned with the their price tag. Many of our guests are using Orbitz.com to book their arrangements, which the rates are AMAZING right now. Others are using TAs that they've been using for years. It was really unfortunate, because I spent alot of time choosing a TA, only to find that he was rendered useless by the sheer fact that all my guests were more concerned about pricing. =/ We had to let him go.  Now we are left scrambling, making sure all the key players get themselves on a plane and with a room.  It's been super fun..... NOT! It's definitely a hard thing to balance. 

 

Any advice would be AWESOME!

 

I've been to DPC 3 times in the past, vacationing with the family and once with the fiance. It's wonderful. The excursion (though expensive) are worth it, especially if you're staying more than 5 nights. All previous times, we traveled with Apple Vacations. Which ALWAYS ended up being a good decision. I'm definitely excited to get in a Honeymoon Suite! ; ) 

[lyndsay_h]

When we were booking we looked at doing a group booking through expedia instead of using a TA and the expedia lady was pretty honest and helpful.  If you have a few people it's fine, but it with the size of our group (40 people) it would be a gamble...  The price will be good for the first person who books, but as people start booking the price will increase because they'll realize demand is going up.  So hard to coordinate everybody in your group booking simultaneously.  Plus each website is only give a certain amount of rooms, so the availability might not be there anyway.

I think it sounded ok if you don't have a whole lot of people.  We ended up doing a group booking with a TA because with the discounts (book 5 rooms get a 6th free, then $1000 off the group price per 10 people booked) it ended up being reasonable, and out of that only 1 couple decided to go with orbitz instead.  I think they're regretting it a little because they didn't realize at the time that everyone else would book with the group, and are now the only ones on a separate flight.

[katierenae]

My travel agent has been to all Dreams resorts in DR and she HIGHLY recommended Dreams!!  She said they are her fav!

[ksugirl]

Our time is set for 4 PM also next June.  Was it really hot at that time?