Ocean Blue & Sand-Punta Cana

alittlerandr · March 10, 2012

Here was our approximate photo schedule:

1 - 1:45 - bride & girls

1:45 - 2:10 - groom & guys

2:15 - first look (bride & groom)

2:30 - 3:30 - wedding party, a few family photos

4:30 - 5:30 - family photos, bride & groom photo shoot (30-ish minutes)

5:30 - 7:00 - cocktail hour shots, early reception shots

We had a half hour between our cocktail hour and reception, and it almost felt a little long. (That's when we took all of the 'wedding party at the bar' photos because we didn't have anything else to do!)

And thanks - the centerpieces were a spur of the moment thing by some of our guests (I had several aunts/mom's friends down there that were super excited to help decorate, etc, and this is one of the things they came up with.)

Originally Posted by Dominican Ally

Your photos are gorgeous! You were a stunning bride, and I LOVE your dress! Your decor was awesome, and I especially loved the centerpieces!

Thank you so, so much for answering my questions and for sharing your pics! You have no idea how much it helps me out to visualize things.

One more question....for now...I'm sure I'll have more...LOL!

It looks like you did some photos prior to the ceremony, right? As of right now, our plan is to not see each other until the ceremony....so we'll only be able to do some getting ready pics before, and the girls/guys (seperate)......so, right now we have our timing set like this.....ceremony 4pm, reception 7-11. I was thinking we can do cocktail hour from 5-6....immediately after ceremony/toast we can start the full bridal party pics, some family pics, and then the guests can go off to cocktail hour and we'll join them once we get some solo pics done....thinking we'd make it there about half way through........do you think that would work?

We have about 40 guests (I think) going...so I want to make sure everyone gets some pro pics of their individual families as well...which shouldn't take too long I don't imagine.

Again - congrats on your day, and thanks for the help!

Alicia

Dominican Ally · March 10, 2012

That is great to know! I think I'll try to schedule it so that the cocktail hour and reception are back to back somehow. Maybe I'll do cocktail hour from 530-630 and move the reception to 630-1030

The gardens that you did pictures in before the ceremony were gorgeous! Your BM dresses looked amazing with the tropical flowers!

Thanks again!

Lozzawatts · March 10, 2012

I have just today booked my symbolic wedding at Ocean Blue for 9th August so this is my first post. Could someone send me the list of extras, I am unable to download pdf's yet and I would like to see extras eg flowers, photographer details etc. Also as were having a symbolic ceremony does anyone know if there is still any part our two young boys could play in the ceremony. They wanted to each be a ring bearer but I don't know if that part is needed in a symbolic wedding as we will have married in the uk a few days prior to our trip so would already be married? Many thanks for any help anyone can provide and look forward to getting to know everyone on this forum over the next few months [email protected] Lorraine x

alittlerandr · March 10, 2012

Hi Cheryl -

(Just thought I'd jump in with some of my experiences here!) Things may have changed, but I believe the free wedding is only available to groups of 10 or fewer. Since you have 21 guests, this may not be an option for you. I'd recommend confirming this with Yinette/Ada asap so you don't have a rude budget awakening down the road!

As far as communicating with them, I generally expected a 48-72 hour response, and, if I didn't hear back, I'd try again. They average 2-3 weddings per day at the resort and are often out running around, so they aren't in the office much. It took some getting used to on my part, but I just had to remind myself to be patient )

We had a cocktail hour included in our package (we went with Sand Extravaganza) and it was great - I'm really glad we did it.

We gave Yinette our first and second choice for dates, and she then assigned us a time. It's based on who else is getting married that day and the officiant's schedule, so we didn't have any say in it. (Our wedding was at 4 and I thought that was perfect because it was starting to cool down and then our reception started as the sun was setting.)

Hope that helps! Happy planning

Originally Posted by CherylW

Hi and Congratulations on you wedding. I am getting married March 2013. I was wondering if you had any problem with the documentation stuff, getting it sent, translating to Spanish and back to English etc. We are having 21 guest at our wedding and was planning on the free wedding also. I heard that sometimes it is hard to communicate with them via email or phone. Did you have any problem with this? Did you have a cocktail hour and was there a cost for this? How much more was the honeymoon suite it sounds lovely. We want to get married as soon as possible to so we can enjoy the rest of our time. Did you get a choice of . times or was it busy and not alot of selection? Any info would be great thank you. Cheryl

alittlerandr · March 10, 2012

Hi Lorraine -

We just had a symbolic ceremony and was able to tailor it so it was our own. They're pretty flexible. We had a large wedding party (8 bridesmaids, 6 groomsmen and 2 flower girls). One of my aunts gave a reading we selected (though the officiant forgot she was doing it so she had to interrupt him - no big deal though), we brought our own vows and words for the ring exchange, and we did a sand ceremony. (For our sand ceremony, we first had our moms pour in sand to represent our families. Then, my husband and I each poured in our own colored sand. Maybe something like this would be a way to incorporate your boys?) We just reviewed everything with Yinette during our meeting and she made copies to give to the officiant. Pretty low key and easy!

Happy planning!

Originally Posted by Lozzawatts

I have just today booked my symbolic wedding at Ocean Blue for 9th August so this is my first post. Could someone send me the list of extras, I am unable to download pdf's yet and I would like to see extras eg flowers, photographer details etc. Also as were having a symbolic ceremony does anyone know if there is still any part our two young boys could play in the ceremony. They wanted to each be a ring bearer but I don't know if that part is needed in a symbolic wedding as we will have married in the uk a few days prior to our trip so would already be married? Many thanks for any help anyone can provide and look forward to getting to know everyone on this forum over the next few months [email protected] Lorraine x

erinmc · March 11, 2012

Thanks for your review!! It is very helpful!! I also have a question.. Where did you get your groomsmen attire?

Originally Posted by alittlerandr

Hey ladies!

Well, I've been back for a few days now from what was literally THE BEST WEEK OF MY LIFE (You guys are going to love it!) I'm going to post some unsolicited tips/thoughts/etc below...but please feel free to ask me any specific questions!!

Life at the resort:

Beautiful! We were in Villa 7, just steps away from the main buffet and we were thrilled about it. (Others in our party were in 6, 9, and 10, which is much closer to the beach.) Be sure to ask for a view of the grounds. (The back side of 7 faced the service road and a chain link fence.)

We never had a problem finding chairs at the pool or beach. We even slept on the beach one night on the 'Privilege' area beds...so wonderful and relaxing, I totally recommend it.

Food: Buffet was great, although we didn't realize until the last day that it was open for lunch, too. (Beach restaurant is also open for lunch, but selection is more limited.) Italian restaurant was so-so, though the wine was good. Steakhouse was definitely worth the reservation. And, we ate at Overtime just about every night after we closed down the lobby bar or disco

Shopping area is right next to the resort...probably 15-20 shops with typical touristy items (jewelry, paintings, clothing, cigars, mamajuana, etc)

OOT bags:

Biggest hits: 22 oz insulated mugs. People RAVED about these; I'm so glad that we splurged on larger, insulated mugs. Another big hit was lanyards with keycard holders. Lastly, our 'in sickness and health' kits were well used.

Here is everything from my bags: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/76281/oot-bags-on-a-budget

Rehearsal:

We staged our own rehearsal on the beach the night before. We then had a rehearsal dinner at the main buffet. (Yinette was able to make reservations for us.)

Wedding:

Beautiful. Yinette worked really hard to make everything a reality for us, and she totally pulled through. We did the Sand Extravaganza package, with the ceremony on the beach, cocktail hour at the dive center, and the dinner at La Brasa. Instead of a dj, we rented the sound equipment, and my cousin appointed himself as dj for the day/night (he really got into it...I think he had as much fun as we did!)

Food at La Brasa was amazing (we did the beef dinner and got tons of compliments on it.)

Ceremony will not be private, but, honestly, you won't even notice. (I am starting to see some of our guests' pictures and people literally were standing feet away from the minister, drug beach chairs up, etc.) It's kind of neat how many people you don't even know are excited to see your ceremony.

We had my aunt do a reading, the minister read the vows we'd provided, and we did a sand ceremony.

Wedding details:

Flowers: I found a wholesale florist who delivered fresh but flowers so my mom, who is a florist, could make the bouquets. (Because of this, I cancelled the bouquet that came with the package and was able to save some money off the sound system rental.)

Decor: I went with the basic package, so the gazebo was decorated and chairs were covered. We also got a few floral items which were moved to the reception area post-ceremony.

Reception decor: My mom bought large starfish from the shopping area. She used these as a container for some of the extra roses. She also brought vases for BM bouquets.

Videographer: I purchased the gold package through the resort, and am so glad I did. He was there until the reception ended, and it's been so fun watching the videos of the day, and seeing the things we missed.

Photographer: I went with HDC's largest package, with prints. We had everything in hand 3 days after the ceremony, but I really appreciated the quick turn around....one less thing to do once we got home. And it was a great value! My husband's photographer cousin (who was also a guest) said the package we got would've been at least 3x as expensive back in Minnesota.

Oops:

Snafus were so minor, but that's what makes some of the best memories!

Reading: Minister forgot we were having a reading, so my aunt had to interrupt him (husband and I simultaneously made the 'time out' sign to the audience and that made for some pretty cute pictures.)

Flower girl: (She just turned 3.) Her dress was a bit long, so she had to pick it up to walk through the sand. Well..she picked it up so high she flashed the entire crowd her undies. It was just precious

Sand ceremony: Sand ceremony went fine, and I carefully packed it in our checked luggage...not thinking that my suitcase would be turned upside down several times...so the sand got all mixed up and much of it spilled since the lid wasn't totally airtight. Oops!

Sky lanterns: It was pretty breezy the night of our reception, and guests didn't let the lanterns fully inflate before letting them go...one landed on the roof of the bar, another on the grounds, etc...only one actually took off before we decided we'd better play it safe and put a stop to it. (If anyone else is planning to try this, find a calm area - probably closer to the lobby than the beach. I purchased these online and packed them in my checked luggage with no issues.)

Hope that helps with some questions and/or planning! As I mentioned earlier, I'm more than happy to answer any other questions or provide more details. Believe me, I could talk for days

Lozzawatts · March 11, 2012

Thanks Alittlerandr, good to know I wasn't sure but some of those ideas are good and like the idea of mixing of sand. I've found some nice readings too that hopefully we can incorporate. Need to think about extras now, eg table decorations so if anyone has the hotel extras PDF they can send me would really appreciate it,s o little time to plan, already getting very excited )

Lozzawatts · March 11, 2012

Thanks Alittlerandr, good to know I wasn't sure but some of those ideas are good and like the idea of mixing of sand. I've found some nice readings too that hopefully we can incorporate. Need to think about extras now, eg table decorations so if anyone has the hotel extras PDF they can send me would really appreciate it,s o little time to plan, already getting very excited )

missjade · March 11, 2012

Oops! My email is [email protected]

Thanks so much!!

alittlerandr · March 11, 2012

Hi Erin,

We ordered everything from cubavera.com and were very happy with it. (I ordered everything on behalf of the guys, so we qualified for a 40% off coupon code and free shipping.) Everything was shipped very quickly and people were happy with the quality. We also had no issue with making returns. (Ordered 2 sizes of one of the shirts.) The pants did run a little long, but our shorter guys just had them hemmed.

Shirts (bright white): http://www.cubavera.com/Single-Pocket-Textured-Linen-Shirt/CCHW0035DS,default,pd.html

Pants (natural linen): http://www.cubavera.com/Drawstring-Linen-Pant/C8FB0147DS,default,pd.html