Iberostar Bavaro

[Gmorel]

nicola is an excelent Wedding Photographer, his website is www.nicolabisogni.com

[JlAllen]

Hi Ladies!

 

Originally I was going to get legally married in Punta Cana, but we decided to just do the legal part here in the US to avoid extra paperwork and the judge's schedule. They told us our ceremony would be at noon and our reception wouldn't be until 7 pm! All of our guests would be trashed with that much time in between!!!

 

So now I am trying to get in touch with Ivanova or Daniel (b/c I think he's the new coordinator??) and I am not getting any response via email. Is anyone else having trouble getting them to reply??? My wedding is in March and I would like to have the ceremony time printed on my invitations, and this is holding everything up!!!

[Train13]

After reading this...we have decided to switch to a symbolic ceremony also.  We were locked in for a 2pm ceremony time, and like you mentioned JlAllen, our guests would be wasted for a 7pm dinner.  I just sent Ivanova an email today asking to switch to a symbolic ceremony. This will definitely help eliminate the stresses of all the paperwork.

 

We are bringing in our photographers, so I am trying to negotiate other extras in place of the 'photographs' on the package.

 

Terilina- see if Ivanova will negotiate the price with you, or perhaps substitute other items for you also.

 

[andilynn09]

I received an email today from the new wedding coordinator, Santa. She (or he?) confirmed that our renewal of vows ceremony is set for April 8th at 4:30pm on the beach...perfect!

[Train13]

Update for Iberostar girls:

 

Back in December, I emailed Santa about exchanging the "14 printed photographs" included in the wedding package with something else we could use. I explained to her that we had friends who are photographing us during the wedding and we wouldn't be needing the prints.

She responded the next day that all services included in the wedding package could not be exchanged.  Ok fine, no big deal. I'll take the extra prints.

 

Fast forward to last week, I emailed her again about storing/steaming our attire, photography, and a few other things. I asked her if we would be able to store our attire and if they had steaming services. Her response: Yes we offer this service, the cost is, 30,  36, or 45USD, depending of the wedding dress.

This would have been extremely nice to know from the very beginning of the contact process when I was sent an "Extras" Pricing List.

 

I also wanted to know if our photographer friends would need a work visa. Since they are bringing a lot of their equipment with them, we don't want to run into any problems in customs. Her response: We kindly inform you that the hotel has a photo studio, this photo studio has exclusivity in the hotel, it means that is not allowed to use other photographic services.  Our photo studio has a professional photographer, Mr. Nicolas, he works  specially for wedding activities,  his email is [email protected]. In attachment we are sending you the different photo packages in case you want to chose one of them.  

In reference to WORK VISA, please contact the Domonican Embasy in your country in order to get better confirmation.

 

This was a big concern of mine, so I immediately sent her a response. My own wedding guests were offering to photograph my wedding, and they're not allowed to take pictures?  That's just ridiculous. So, after contact with my travel agent and a written letter expressing my frustrations in communicating with the wedding coordinator at Iberostar Bavaro, the letter has finally made it's way to the hotel manager. Meanwhile, Santa has responded to my email saying that she will inform the studio of our two photographers. Completely different tone than what I originally received.

 

I want to pass this information along to all of you.  You may or may not have had similar experiences so far with your wedding coordinators at the resorts. I have found that they can be pushy at times and not entirely explain things like we do here. I was under the impression that Iberostar did not allow "outside vendors" after her response to my photographers, but after all, that is not the case. If it were, this information should have been addressed at the very beginning of the contact process.

 

*An extra piece of advice: book your hair appts a month in advance. I just found that out too.  Thankfully I ask stupid questions to her I guess, otherwise I wouldn't have know that.

 

[JlAllen]

ommmgggggg they want to charge to steam a wedding dress???

 

I actually had issues with the photographer too. I had originally hired Arnaud from HDC, but was told a couple months ago that no other photographers were allowed on the premises. So I negotiated with Nicolas to give me the same amount of photos I would be getting from Arnaud at Arnaud's price. It worked.

 

I also think there is a HUGE communication barrier. I had asked Santa if there would be alcohol served during the reception and she said no.

 

I emailed again and wasn't very happy and she had read it wrong. Make sure you print out all your email exchanges with her and have her confirm your package price before you go because they may try to change them....

 

When is your wedding? Mine is March 25, guess I better be making that hair appointment!!  Do I do that through Santa??

[andilynn09]

Yes, you can make your hair appt. thru Santa - I just contacted her about mine last week for our April 8 wedding. I didn't know you had to book that far in advance, I was just trying to cross another thing off my to-do list!

[JlAllen]

Thank you!!!!

[Emily113]

Hi Ladies .... Anyone getting married at or staying at the Iberostar Grand??  Are the wedding packages different prices for different resorts or is it the same package for all the Iberostars?  Any help would be appreciated!   I'm sooo wanting to finalize my decision.  Also... if anyone happens to have the Packages and Pricing for private reception / extras ... would you please email it to me it you have a chance??  [email protected]

 

Thanks Girls!  Hope everyone has an awesome weekend!

[andilynn09]

The package prices are different for each resort. I know the package at the Bavaro was about $300 more than the packages at the Punta Cana or the Dominicana. We are hoping to try to get upgraded to the Grand at the end of our trip, but opted not to have the wedding there because it was so much more expensive for us (and more importantly, our guests) to stay there.  I think I still have the prices of the extras for the Bavaro, I'll try to find them and email them to you!