EXCELLENCE Resort Punta Cana - New thread started April 2010

[atrott]

If you haven't been to Excellence before, wait until you get there & check out the Cascade Pool area before you definitely decide on it for your reception. It's a beautiful setting but the buildings block any breeze coming through so it can get pretty warm, even at night. We were there in December & felt like it was going to be too warm between the buildings so we did everything on the beach instead.
 

Originally Posted by spaterson 

Just got our room rate group quote from the resort for our May 2012 wedding!!! So excited! How's everyone's planning going?

I think I'm giong with a coral/torquise color scheme.

 

Is anyone else using the pool area for the reception? We can only have it privatized 7-10 so I'm wondering how to do the 3 hour reception plus 1 hour cocktail party. May need to find another area for the cocktail hour.

[spaterson]

Atrott- Good to know! Thank you! Do you mind emailing me your planning journal? I don't have enough posts to open it.

How did you like the beach location? What did you do for a dance area? Did you bring a DJ down there?

 

Thanks again!

[Diva]

Did anyone NOT go with Pastor York and have the officiant included in the package? It is my understanding that he only speaks Spanish, so it would be a little hard to give him a script that we would like in English. I am not having an issue with the Spanish,  I am just interested to know what his script is like...

 

Thanks

[kitty25967]

Pastor York is the only English speaking Pastor.  He is officiating my ceremony and I am thrilled.  He is so nice and prompt to respond.  He does English ceremonies.  He sent my FI and I our ceremony right away for us to review and make changes if needed.  He does a traditional wedding sermon with a message and sand ceremony.  It was really good and we have yet to think of any changes to it.  I would recommend him.
 

Originally Posted by Diva 

Did anyone NOT go with Pastor York and have the officiant included in the package? It is my understanding that he only speaks Spanish, so it would be a little hard to give him a script that we would like in English. I am not having an issue with the Spanish,  I am just interested to know what his script is like...

 

Thanks

[atrott]

Send me your email & I'll get that over to you.

 

I LOVED the beach location! We had perfect weather & just the right amount of breeze on the day of!! There's a tiki bar on the beach that we made a dance area out in front of. We didn't use a DJ, we had everything on ipod & just rented the speaker. After they kicked us off the beach (around 11pm), we all went to the dance club & finished the party there.

 

We also used the officiant included in the ceremony package. Griselda was our translator. Although, we didn't understand most of it, we knew when we were supposed to say 'I do' and didn't have a problem with any of it!

Originally Posted by spaterson 

Atrott- Good to know! Thank you! Do you mind emailing me your planning journal? I don't have enough posts to open it.

How did you like the beach location? What did you do for a dance area? Did you bring a DJ down there?

 

Thanks again!

[fmichelle]

Awesome to hear! We are doing our reception on the beach with the BBQ as well and I was wondering about the whole dancing situation without renting a DJ (we're going to do the iPod thing as well)  Did you end up doing the garter and bouquet thing out on the beach as well?
 

Originally Posted by atrott 

 

I LOVED the beach location! We had perfect weather & just the right amount of breeze on the day of!! There's a tiki bar on the beach that we made a dance area out in front of. We didn't use a DJ, we had everything on ipod & just rented the speaker. After they kicked us off the beach (around 11pm), we all went to the dance club & finished the party there.

 

 

[atrott]

I didn't do a garter or bouquet toss at all. There's more than enough room to do everything on the beach! We had some guests that just weren't into dancing with the rest of the partiers & they were still able to sit & chat at the dinner tables without us disturbing them.

[Pinkie]

Hey!! So i just want to start off by saying thank you for all of your info! Im getting married On may 27th at excellence. Ive been searching high and low for reviews on a private reception on the beach and you just came to my rescue! I looked at your wedding photos also and they are amazing!!! It makes me relieved to see severine's work. we have about 20 people attending the wedding. Do you have any other advice? Where did you get the sash's that were around the chairs and lights? Did anyone have a problem with the food or water? Did you do out of town bags? Sorry for soo many questions, im just trying to wrap all my stuff up. Thanks Again!

[Pinkie]

One more question. Did the resort give you any money off, or discounts ect for your wedding due to group size? The wedding planner said they dont do that but when my friends called the hotel, apparently they give a group discount. Any thoughts?

[atrott]

Pinkie, actually Arturo was our photographer & I was extremely pleased with his work. I had exchanged emails with Severine but we never got to meet. I didn't go with a 'list' of must have pictures, I trusted them completely to do their work and they certainly didn't disappoint!

 

 I can't remember where I ordered the chair sashes from online, sorry! I do remember I had gotten the info from another post on here. No one in our party had any issues with the food with the exception of one guy on his last night. He ate fish in the french restaurant & it didn't agree with him. We also emphasized to everyone to drink the bottled water and even though some brushed their teeth with tap water, we didn't have any reported issues with that either. We did gift bags for everyone & delivered them all before our trip. I just didn't want the hassle of traveling with everything myself & there were things in them that our guests actually packed and brought with them (i.e., the pashminas & koozies). We used a travel agent for the trip bookings and she booked everything through Funjet at a considerably lower rate than through Excellence themselves. We opted not to go with a 'group rate' as we didn't want to be held responsible paying for rooms that may/may not have been used. As it turned out, we had more than enough rooms booked so that we wouldn't have had to pay extra. We didn't get any discounts at the resort on the wedding either but Griselda had extra flowers added and she only charged us for one hour of rental on the speaker for the ipod. My best advice I can offer is to just relax and let them take care of things for you. More than likely, your guests won't know if theres 'something' missing. The resort and staff were truly amazing to us and I'm sure they'll treat you the same!

 

Hope this helps, if you have any more questions, please feel free to ask!