Iberostar Bavaro

[Emily113]

Thank you so much!!  

[Train13]

Emily- I just sent you an email of the package prices

[belindachu2001]

I just got married in Iberostar Bavaro on Feb 19, 2011.  Daniuska was my WC and she was very helpful. Some tips for your reference that I didn't know before I got there:

 

• the hair salothe for Iberostar bavaro closes on Sunday so if you need any hair service, you need to go to the Grand.
• prices of the hair salon and spa services in Iberostar Bavaro and in Grand Bavaro are the same and they allow you to use the service in Grand even if you don't stay there.  However, the guard does watch and would stop you when you enter the Grand area if you are not the guest at Grand.  (They can tell from your wrist band) Once you tell them you are there for the saloon/spa appointment, they are OK and are very polite to you.   I like the saloon and spa in the Grand since the facility is nicer and the massage room has beautiful ocean view on the 2nd floor
• if you plan to use their make-up service (only $20), you may want to try it any day before the wedding to see if you like it.  I tried it one day before my wedding but didn't like it so I ended up doing my make-up myself with my bridesmaid's help.
• print out all your pricing info that you and your WC communicated via emails so there is no confusion when you get there.  I had all my info with me while I was there so I didn't have any issues other than one item (Sash for the chairs) that Daniuska didn't get the pricing info early enough before I left.  Therefore the price was higher than I expected.  She ended up lowering the price a bit but I was still charged by $5 for each sash. If you rent it from some online service in the states, it could be only $2 per piece with the color and right material you are looking for.
• one thing I was really happy with is that they could re-use the flower decoration of the ceremony as the centerpieces of the reception. That saved me some money but I did order the special wedding ceremony decoration that cost me $400.  My wedding was on the beach so they set up a bamboo gazebo with white flowy fabric and decorated with flowers.  It was beautiful so it's definitely worth it for me!
• my wedding was scheduled at 3:30p (but it got delayed to 3:45p~ as the hotel cart didn't come pick us up until 3:30p).  I was worried that 3:30p was too early, but it turned out to be just fine.  We had perfect sunlight with some breeze.  It was not hot at all and also we had sufficient time for photos.
• I was able to bring in outside photographers by paying day passes for them. Also, since the 14 photo prints (from the resort) were included in the package, I got them as well.  However, once the resort photographer figured that we were not interested in buying more photos from him, he became impatient and rude. It was a bad experience for me, so I went to Guest Service at Iberostar Bavaro to complain while I had some questions for them about my spa certificate that I received as gift. However, the resort photographer did have some good shots with different angles that compliment the photos from my photographer we hired from outside.

 

Overall, the service in Iberostar is great and consistent.  The buffet food has lots of variety with good quality.  There are additional 6 restaurants that offer dinner in addition to the buffet.  My guests all enjoyed a lot.

 

Here is my wedding slide show that may give you some more ideas as to how the wedding looks like there.  I have more photos and am happy to share.  Let me know your email address and I can send you the link.

 

 

I got lots of ideas from this forum so I hope my update helps!  Good luck on your wedding planning!!!

 

[Train13]

BelindaChu- Thank you so much for the information. This will definitely help us Bavaro brides tremendously.

 

Was Santa working at Iberostar Bavaro, or is Daniuska her replacement?    I emailed Santa (if she's still there) yesterday about the bamboo gazebo- and I really like the way you had the linens covering all of it.  She had previously sent me pictures, and I noticed a lot of green paint all over it, and it looked extremely tacky. The way you decorated it looked so pretty.   What exactly was included in the "special wedding ceremony decorations"?    What restaurant did you choose for your reception location?   Thanks again, for all the feedback!     

[Emily113]

Thanks BelindaChu for that... Great info!!

 

How many guests did you have at your wedding?  Did you opt for the restaurant exclusivity?  It seems pretty reasonably priced, I thought looked to be well worth it!  I am also curious about the "included decor" ... I feel like the wedding package pricing here is very inexpensive compared to the other resorts that I was looking at, which is awesome, but makes me worry that there's hidden costs I'm not seeing....  I'm curious; when you get the package, opt for restaurant exclusivity and pay the extra $12/person, does that include set up, etc, for all those people or is that just the cost of the dinner and it's going to be an extra $5/person if you want to actually have a table and chairs set up for them - HAHA!  Also, do you know if any of the ceremony location options are outdoor terraces or at least have water views from the room?  

 

Thanks for any additional feedback you can give!

 

 

Your wedding looked fabulous and you looked absolutely amazing!!  Congratulations!!!!

[belindachu2001]

Santa is the WC for IB Bavaro and Daniuska is the WC for Grand.  Daniuska was covering for Bavaro for a period of time when the resort was looking for the replacement of the prior WC for Bavaro.  Since Daniuska and I had been working together for a couple of months, she continued to assist me after Santa joined IB. I met Santa as well while I was there.  The whole team there sitting in the same office was very friendly and they covered for each other.  When Daniuska was not around, other members (there are 2 more assistants there in addition to Daniuska and Santa) would help answer questions.  However, I didn't work with Santa directly other than chatting with her.

 

For the bamboo gazebo, I previously got one picture form Daniuska and it looked pretty much the same as mine other than the different color of sash for the chair and no candles on the table for me (I didn't like the candles they displayed).  If you want to see that photo, let me know how I can forward it to you.

 

The special wedding ceremony decorations covers the set up of the bamboo gazebo and all the flowers.  I didn't ask what it would look like without this special decoration but only told Daniuska that I liked the way it was decorated in the photo she showed me and would like to have the same.

 

I reserved the steak house for our reception as it is the only restaurant that can fit a band.  Other restaurants can only fit a DJ.  The appetizer is buffet and it has great selections. Steak House is spacious so it works well if you have more guests. (I only have about 25.)  Initially they told me that I can't reserve any restaurant for our private reception if I didn't have more than 50 guests.  However, they were OK to accommodate me at the end ($1000 fees).

 

Happy Planning!

 

Belinda

[belindachu2001]

Sorry the last reply was for Train13 and now is for Emily113...

 

We had about 25 people total and yes we did reserve Steak House exclusively for our reception.  When I was selecting a resort, I also felt Iberostar's pricing was relatively cheaper for almost all items compared to the other resorts. ( I also found out later that doing the wedding hair is only $60).  During the planning, I did get all the price infos (other than the sash) so I didn't think there were hidden costs as I heard from other posts for various hotels.  One extra cost for me was for my bouquet, they only cover tropical flowers for the bouquet included in the package. I wanted roses so they charged extra $35, which was reasonable.   Daniuska went though all kinds of flowers (tropical or not and their colors) that are available there with me so I was happy with what I got. I was able to get the flowers that matched to my wedding colors - fuchsia and amber/orange.

 

For the extra $12/person, it did cover dinner/cake/champagne and the set up of the table & chairs.  I think they have standard white or gold bows for the chairs that are free, but I paid $5/each to rent the fuchsia sashes. (they only had fuchsia, orange and light blue colors - not a lot of options)  I also brought brooches and they helped pin them to the sashes on the chairs for me.  They were pretty flexible, if you have any extra decoration items you want to bring yourself, they can set them up for you.  Also for the extra $12/person, I was told that kids under 13 is free from this charge.  We had some kids in the group so it helped.  If you want to have cocktail hours, I think it's free for kids under age 5 and it's half price for 5 to 13 year old kids.  You may want to confirm these things with them, since they didn't really tell me these details under I asked.

 

As to outdoor terrace for wedding location, I didn't look for those options, but I did see some photos like that either from Iberostar PC or Iberostar Bavaro wedding package. You may check with the WC.

 

Hope the info helps, and thank you for your compliments, we really enjoyed our wedding and our guests did too!

 

Good luck on planning your wedding!!

 

Quote:

How many guests did you have at your wedding?  Did you opt for the restaurant exclusivity?  It seems pretty reasonably priced, I thought looked to be well worth it!  I am also curious about the "included decor" ... I feel like the wedding package pricing here is very inexpensive compared to the other resorts that I was looking at, which is awesome, but makes me worry that there's hidden costs I'm not seeing....  I'm curious; when you get the package, opt for restaurant exclusivity and pay the extra $12/person, does that include set up, etc, for all those people or is that just the cost of the dinner and it's going to be an extra $5/person if you want to actually have a table and chairs set up for them - HAHA!  Also, do you know if any of the ceremony location options are outdoor terraces or at least have water views from the room? 

 

[andilynn09]

BelindaChu, your wedding looks like it was beautiful! Congratulations!!

 

I am also doing fushia and orange for colors. Did you pick your flowers and what they looked like, or did you just give them the colors and they made them up?

 

I also sent you a PM about maybe sending me some more pictures. I'm so excited now, I have just over a month to go until mine!

[belindachu2001]

Thank you andilynn! Congratulations to your coming wedding!!

 

I just sent you a PM with the photos.  As to how I picked the flowers, I gave Daniuska my wedding colors (fuchsia and orange).  She showed me on her computer what flowers were available/included (basically tropical flowers) and what cost extra such as orchid.  I told her what flowers I don't like and don't what them to be included and what I like the most of course. Then she just made it happen - including my bridesmaids' bouquets, the groom's boutineer and the flowers on the cake. They are all pretty so I was very happy with it.  You can also just tell your WC your wedding colors and they will put them together for you if you don't want to go through the process of picking specific flowers.  Enjoy your wedding!

[MJB3172012]

Santa just confirmed our wedding date this morning.  We will be getting married at the Iberostar Bavaro on March 17, 2012 @ 4pm. 

 

We put in our request in November, but the judge was dragging his feet and is just now making his 2012 schedule.

 

My parents went on a site visit last month since they were already in Punta Cana on vacation.  They absolutely loved the resort and said that Santa was wonderful.  Santa did tell them that the judge may not do Saturdays in 2012 (March 17th is a Saturday next year). In addition, she mentioned he usually won't do a wedding later than 3pm on a Saturday. 

 

We were WAY ahead of the game (since we requested this date in November and are still 11 months out), so maybe that had something to do with his leniency on day of week and time.

 

Can't wait to check out everyone's planning threads!