Paradisus Punta Cana (PPC) Brides POST HERE!!

[mushra2011]

Hi Brides,

I am getting married at PPC in June 2011.  I haven't still found a photographer yet.  I have to decided to go with local photographer in Punta Cana.  I was wondering if any one of you have booked a photographer from Punta Cana.

[ashleyryan]

 

Originally Posted by mushra2011 

Hi Brides,

I am getting married at PPC in June 2011.  I haven't still found a photographer yet.  I have to decided to go with local photographer in Punta Cana.  I was wondering if any one of you have booked a photographer from Punta Cana.

Check out juliaeskin.com. She does incredible work and her prices are great! I'm going to book her for my 2012 wedding. Good luck

[Miss Sunshyne]

Check out Daviel Taveras, awesome photgrapher, he's based out of Santo Domingo/Miami but travels to Punta Cana, he's shot weddings at PPC, he's booked for my wedding in November, recommend him 1000%

 

http://vlokstudio.com/ 
 

Originally Posted by mushra2011 

Hi Brides,

I am getting married at PPC in June 2011.  I haven't still found a photographer yet.  I have to decided to go with local photographer in Punta Cana.  I was wondering if any one of you have booked a photographer from Punta Cana.

[jhartford19]

Paradisus Punta Cana Wedding Review (it's very long)

My husband and I were married on January 31, 2011 at the Paradisus Punta Cana.  Our wedding was amazing.  So here is my review of everything:

 

Before our departure:

We booked through Breakaway Online which is based out of Oshawa, Ontario.  We are from Toronto, but we found this travel agent through a recommendation after having problems with a popular wedding travel agent in the Toronto area.  Our travel agent, Kim was great.  She answered all of my questions promptly and took care of all of the bookings.  None of our guests contacted me about anything, they contacted the travel agent directly.  She handled everyone’s questions and concerns.  I wanted to put together Wedding Information Packages and Kim contacted the Paradisus representative and got me a bunch of different booklets on the Paradisus to give to our guests.  Our flight went smoothly and we arrived on time in Punta Cana.

 

Arrival:

I was a little bit worried driving by the other resorts in Punta Cana, but when we got to our resort, I immediately knew we made the right decision.  Some of our rooms were not ready so we hung out at the Lobby bar and had a few drinks while we waited.  We were all pretty tired from traveling all day so we didn’t mind having some drinks and relaxing.  Once our rooms were ready everyone went to their rooms to freshen up.  Our upgraded room in the Reserve area was beautiful.  We would definitely upgrade again.  You might hear people say that you are far from your guests, but everything is within walking distance and you can always take a tram.  The only problem we had with the rooms is my mom’s toilet didn’t work, so my mom and dad were moved to a different room.

 

Rooms:

Our room is the reserve was beautiful.  The other rooms were very nice.  Everyone was happy with their room, but of course they loved our room.  The rooms are quite cool.  You have a balcony, a fridge that is filled each day.  For some reason we didn’t get beer, but my father-in-law got lots of beer each day because he put a tip in the fridge.  If you don’t get beer, you can order room service and they will bring you some.  There were no bugs in the rooms as far as I know and they were cleaned everyday if you wanted them to be.

 

The First Night:

The first night we had a bachelor/bachelorette party.  We handed out Welcome bags to everyone with information on the rehearsal dinner, the wedding and other things they needed to know, along with wedding week survival kits, flip flops, travel hair brushes, playing cards, bookmarks, and other things that people may have needed.  Our guests really appreciated them.  We ended up being so tired from our travels that the night did not last long.  We went to the buffet for dinner, to the Lobby bar and then home.

 

The Second Day:

We met Miguelina and went over everything for the day.  I brought chair sashes, program fans, bubbles, water bottle labels, sand ceremony stuff, magic pearls for the vases, table runners, a guest book and some other stuff.  I told her what everything was for, and she had no problem setting it up.  She did not try to change the price of things like other people have stated.  The prices were the same as before we got there.  We had to add lighting to our reception and buy the water bottles, pay for a guest pass for the videographer, but the prices were the same as we were quoted before.  She showed us where the wedding would take place and where the reception would take place.  I have to admit I was a little bit worried after our meeting, not because of Miguelina, only because I hate giving up control like that.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to check in on things, but I was prepared for things to go wrong and decided to take on the island laid back personality.  But nothing went wrong.

 

Rehearsal Dinner:

The next night we had our rehearsal dinner at Terra (the steak restaurant) we got to choose two options for our guests and they got to pick one of the two options.  They printed up menu cards and reserved three tables for us.  We chose steak and ribs as the two choices.  Everyone loved their meals.  Most people had the steak, but a couple had the ribs.  They even did a special kids menu for the two kids at our wedding.  We started with the salad bar, which had many different salads, meats, cheeses, etc. Then had the steak or ribs and finished with the desserts from the salad bar.  Everything was great.

 

Wedding Day:

I had my hair done first thing in the morning.  The hairstylist curled it all and pinned it up so that it would last, I had to go back to have the pins taken out.  I wanted my hair to be in long loose curls.  It did not last, it looked like beach waves by the time the ceremony came.  I wish I had put my hair up.  We met the photographer and videographer and they started with the boys.  I will talk more about them in the next paragraph.  They were amazing though.  We had pictures taken and then the boys went to the wedding site (the gazebo) and the girls had more pictures.  We were a little late for the wedding, but it’s island time, right?  I left the belt for my wedding dress at home and one of the groomsman forgot his pants.  Luckily my dad had the same pants as the groomsman, but they were a little big.  As for my belt, my sister brought a brooch and we used that.  I want to have an AHR so I can wear them together.  The gazebo was beautiful.  Miguelina outdid herself.  We had the chill out package and there were orchids lining the aisle, we ordered two big floral arrangements to decorate the gazebo and they were beautiful.  We did not request veils, but we had them anyway and they made the gazebo stunning.  We had our cocktail hour, everyone loved the hors d’ouevres that we picked out, I didn’t have any because I didn’t want to get my dress dirtier than it already was.  (Be prepared for your dress to get dirty quickly, but it doesn’t really show up in the photos).  We had a champagne toast and then more pictures.

 

The Reception was amazing.  Miguelina used my table runner, water pearls and all of my ideas that I had emailed prior to the wedding.  The centerpieces were way nicer than what I was expecting, the cake was not exactly what I had ordered (I wanted one tier chocolate and one vanilla, but we got two tiers vanilla and raspberry or strawberry), everyone loved the cake.  The meal was great.  All of our guests were raving about it.  The people that served the meal and played the music were very patient.  Some people had gone home to freshen up and were late coming back, but they all patiently waited.  Miguelina was our MC and did a great job.  To end the night, we didn’t want to have a dance, because there were only 23 people, so we had fire dancers.  We requested one fire dancer and we got two.  They were well worth the money.  Everyone was amazed by them.  People who were at the restaurant during our wedding came up to us the next day and told us our wedding gave them chills, it was so beautiful.  Many of our guests said it was the best wedding that they have ever been to.  Miguelina did an amazing job. 

 

Photographer:

Our photographer was Michael Steingard from Ontario.  He was amazing.  He does a lot of weddings at the Majestic and if he is already in the DR you don’t have to pay for his travels.  He was super friendly and people even said he was like family by the dinner.  He stayed with us all day and then did a trash the dress session a couple days later.  He made us a slide show at the end of the night with 100 of the pictures and burned us a CD so that we could have them ahead of time.  I am so excited for the rest.  People have said our pictures look like the cover of a romance novel.  The way he alters the backgrounds of the photos, it makes a good picture amazing.  Even the ones where I don’t look so great, the rest of the picture looks so good that I had to print all of them anyway.  We have had so many compliments on them and our friends and family are already trying to get him as their photographer, so I would suggest to contact him early. www.michaelsteingard.com

 

Videographer:

The one people thought we didn’t need.  My husband and his family thought I was crazy for booking Florian from Video Punta Cana- Cinema and Motion because we were already paying for pictures.  However, they have all changed their tune now that they have seen his work.  My husband’s family has watched the video every night since we have been back.  The video is beautifully done.  We got extra copies for our parents and for my husband’s grandparents since they couldn’t come to the wedding.  Now we can show everyone who didn’t come our wedding.  My only regret is that we didn’t book him for the whole time of the wedding.  It would have been well worth it!  Florian is originally from Germany and has lived in the DR for 19 years, his English is very good and it is easy to communicate with him.  He was very friendly and easy to work with.  He tells you what to do and if you have any suggestions he is open to them.  Check out his website, you will fall in love with his work right away!  www.videopuntacana.com

 

Restaurants:

We loved every restaurant that we went to.  The Japanese place was a favourite, because of the experience and the food was really good.  People who went to the Italian loved it, Fuego was great, Terra was really good, the seafood restaurant was good, the portions were small, but you could always order more.  The buffet was the only one people said was a little boring after awhile.  We ate their for breakfast and lunch everyday, but I loved the grill for lunch, the hot dogs and fries were yummy!

 

Disco:

This is the one part I didn’t really like, it was really loud.  I wish the lobby bar would stay open later for people who did not want to go to the disco.

 

Departure:

We realized we were suppose to get separate check in and champagne, but we didn’t take advantage of it on the way over, just on the way back.  The flight went smoothly home. 

 

My biggest regret: we should have went for two weeks, one week is not long enough!  We are going back for our one year anniversary because we loved it so much! 

[jhartford19]

When we went to Paradisus, many people on the flight back that stayed at dreams were sick.  When I read the reviews before I booked, more people were sick at dreams.  No one was sick at the Paradisus.  It was amazing!

[Janet1480]

Great review...thanks so much! I cant wait for my PPC wedding in October

[Miss Sunshyne]

Thanks for the review, can't wait to see pics

[Valderama]

Hi sunshyne! We're also getting married 11.12.11 at ppc! That is too cool that we'll all be there! We are having our ceremony in the balcony and reception on the beach... So excited. Have you seen any good websites with wedding pics? Have fun planning!

[kokonutte]

Thanks for the review!!  I am getting closer and closer to my date, I'm starting to get really excited for it to come!!! 

[Janet1480]

when are you getting married?
 

Originally Posted by kokonutte 

Thanks for the review!!  I am getting closer and closer to my date, I'm starting to get really excited for it to come!!!