Dreams Punta Cana Brides

[Caitlin Smith]

hi! we had two round tables, but they were right next to each other. we had a total of 14 (with ryan and i), so there were some extra seats because each table held 8. we bounced back and forth in between courses to talk to everyone.  none our of guests seemed to mind.  the set up was similar for our rehearsal dinner at the sea side grill, except they were two rectangular tables.

 

depending on what time of year you go, i would NOT recommend doing a reservation at one of the restaurants for your rehearsal or after your wedding.  apparently, in december, the resort is empty - something we did not know until we got there, but it was so nice!!

 

yessica mentioned it was $15 per person to make a reservation. we thought about it and decided against it. on our way to the wedding, yessica told me that she went ahead and had tables set up at el patio, and she did not charge us. as for the rehearsal, we got to the restaurant when it opened and put it our request and they had no problem accommodating us.

 

i know our family members took pictures of both events. as soon as i get one, i'll post it here for you to see. 

 

also, at the reception dinner, the manager of el patio set up a cake table for us and brought out our cake after dinner was complete, along with a cake server and knife. they even brought out champagne for everyone and our family did their toasts. no charge!!

and, they will deliver the extra cake to your room...  haha!

[melb151]

Hi everyone,

We just got back from our wedding at Dreams Punta Cana.  Everything was amazing.  There is truly no reason to stress about things.  Your wedding coordinator will help you to ensure all of the details are taken care of.  We had Carolina as our wedding coordinator and she was fabulous.  Our wedding took place at the gazebo at 2:30, we hired Rick York to do the ceremony (who did an outstanding job).  Our cocktail hour took place on the portofino terrace from 6-7pm and then dinner and dancing to follow.  We had 33 guests, and the portofino terrace was a comfortable fit.  There is not unfortunately a terrific backup plan if it rains as it is not covered up there.  Our backup plan was they would move the dinner down to the oceana restaurant, however it would no longer be a private event, therefore no speeches or dancing would be permitted.  During our reception it did rain for a few minutes, during which time everyone ran for cover under the bar.  The rain moved through and the party continued... no big deal.  We chose the Silver menu for dinner which included the shrimp mango salad, the tomato soup (good), the beef tenderloin (everyone loved it) and the cannoli for dessert (apparently also good but I never got mine due to the rain).  We ordered the almond cake which was also great!  We asked to get the extra wrapped up to take to our room but unfortunately could not eat it all.  We decided to use our ipod for the reception and hooked it up to the speaker system, which worked perfectly.  We did bring down alot of our own decorations, which Carolina and the staff put up for us.  Turned out great.  We outsourced our flowers to Innovart who did a fabulous job (fantastic customer service) at a much cheaper cost than through the resort.  We hired Photo Phil from Steingard Studios to do our photography.  I haven't seen our photos yet, but am very excited for when we get them.  After the reception (at 10pm) the party moved to the disco.  All in all, was a fantastic day and week altogether.  I wish I could rewind time and do it all over again, but I am also relieved to finally be able to write this review and say how everything turned out as we wished for.  The resort itself was great...service was impeccable.  The rooms are fair, definitely nothing fancy, but the resort grounds made up for that.  Lots of lush palm trees, shrubs and greenery.  Little area with flamingos and turtles.  Our wedding group was in building 5, which actually turned out great.  They were very accessible to the buffet, nightly entertainment, etc.  The food in the restaurants is also very good.  The Seaside Grill was probably our groups favorite dining place.  We never made it to the Oceana however, but it looked nice. 

Best wishes to all the future brides getting married at Dreams,  It was truly a dream for us and I hope to go back again sometime, to relive some of the great moments we shared.  If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.

[msvasq]

wow! so nice caitlin!!!!! so happy to her that everything was perfect!!!

 

what time did you have your ceremony??

 

also i tried to friend you on FB but couldnt :/

 

 

Originally Posted by Caitlin Smith 

hi! we had two round tables, but they were right next to each other. we had a total of 14 (with ryan and i), so there were some extra seats because each table held 8. we bounced back and forth in between courses to talk to everyone.  none our of guests seemed to mind.  the set up was similar for our rehearsal dinner at the sea side grill, except they were two rectangular tables.

 

depending on what time of year you go, i would NOT recommend doing a reservation at one of the restaurants for your rehearsal or after your wedding.  apparently, in december, the resort is empty - something we did not know until we got there, but it was so nice!!

 

yessica mentioned it was $15 per person to make a reservation. we thought about it and decided against it. on our way to the wedding, yessica told me that she went ahead and had tables set up at el patio, and she did not charge us. as for the rehearsal, we got to the restaurant when it opened and put it our request and they had no problem accommodating us.

 

i know our family members took pictures of both events. as soon as i get one, i'll post it here for you to see. 

 

also, at the reception dinner, the manager of el patio set up a cake table for us and brought out our cake after dinner was complete, along with a cake server and knife. they even brought out champagne for everyone and our family did their toasts. no charge!!

and, they will deliver the extra cake to your room...  haha!

[Karleen Edwards]

Hi Caitlin, when was your wedding? Congrats Was it the balance of the cake that was left over?

[Lizzie111712]

 

Hi Msvasq,

 

So sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I will email you pictures but here is just a glipse above! This awesome tree is right next to the wedding site on the beach.

 

For the cigar roller it was 350.00 for an hour for 20 guests plus 10.00 each additional guest (we had to pay for everyone in our group). We ended up getting about 40 cigars for free because he had rolled them and just gave to us. It was pretty cool. The guys loved it.

 

The bonfire was 200.00 per hour and we did 2 hours. Then the bar was the silver bar package and we paid for 2 hours..I believe was 150 per hour for 20 people and like 8 or 9 for extra person. We did that for 2 hours as well and felt it was worth it because there isn't a really close bar open on the beach at night. The Oceana is there but still a little walk from where we were and we wanted everyone to be there for the event. The Oceana is beautiful, open air and was our favorite food. I didn't see any weddings set up in there and wasn't aware you could rent it. I did notice there is a back section that is probably where it will be and it is very nice. I don't think I have any pics though. I don't think you could go wrong with any of the places there honestly! It was all gorgeous.

 

The bar service at the reception we still did have to pay for because it was a private event. We did the silver bar package which again was about 150 an hour for 20 people. They had about 3 waiters bringing drinks plus the bartender so everyone was well taken care of.

 

The hurricaines with candles were 55 piece for small and 65 for large. Still a little steep but they were pretty. Your coordinator can email you pics of the other flowers options. They were all pretty but just a little pricey for us around 200 per table.

 

We ended up going with the complimentary package and then adding on. I think we figured it to save about 600.00 by doing that because we hired an outside photographer who was awesome! HDC photo I would highly reccomend!

 

Let me know if there are any other questions and good luck!

Lizzie

[skyy]

Hi Sister/Brides, Wow Negritadr your almost a Mrs. I'm so happy for you .... what is the DJ package and how did you work things out with him about what songs to play?.....

 

Time is passing so fast, I'm going coo coo about the music and the air fare.

 

What has everyone been getting air fare at? My TA pissed me off the air was $600.00 a month ago and she "recommended" me to wait because it should go down. Well guess what it's $137.00 higher now. I'm thinking about asking all my guest to fly out of NY thay have air from $515.00-$600.00. The only issue is NY is like 2 1/2 hours away....

 

LIFE WOULD BE SO SWEET IF I COULD JUST SIT BACK AND PIC DECOR ????   

[Caitlin Smith]

hi! sorry about the delay in getting back to you! things have been crazy with the upcoming holiday!

 

our ceremony was at 4 p.m.  it was the perfect time - just late enough to still enjoy the day, and we still had lots of sunlight afterwards for pictures.  the sunsets around 6:30ish in December.

 

and, my facebook url is facebook.com/caitlinsmith70. that's the worst part of having a common name... there are like a million other caitlin smith's so i'm a little hard to find!

[Caitlin Smith]

thanks, karleen! 

 

we were married dec. 8. we stayed at the resort from dec. 4-14. it was amazing! 85 degrees every day with about 5 minutes of rain every day. but, it was beautiful!

 

the cake seriously feed 30 people. we had 14 people. Everyone had a piece of cake at the reception, and we had about more than 1/2 left.  and, we cut the pieces ourselves so i'm sure they were bigger than what the resort would have done (they offered, but we already started so we just kept cutting).

 

if you have extra cake, they will deliver it to your room! haha

 

just make sure you ask for a box. we just assumed they would give us one, and it arrived to our room on the platter it was served on in the restaurant. and, we never able to get someone to find us one ("the place with the boxes is closed... oh, they should have already given you one.... we dont know where to get one"). but, the resort brought us some foil to cover it, and that worked just fine.

 

there are pictures of the cake on my facebook page if you'd like to see it - facebook.com/caitlinsmith70

[Karleen Edwards]

Caitlin, Was it Dreams Palm Beach?

[Caitlin Smith]

Hi!

 

No, we got married at Dreams Punta Cana.