Paradisus Punta Cana (PPC) Brides POST HERE!!

[WaterBug]

Can anyone give advice about using the beach location vs the pool location for the reception? I really like the laid back idea about the beach reception and dancing barefoot in the sand! It seems like most brides have opted for the pool area though and I wanted to know the reasoning behind that.

[emagana]

My wedding isn't until May 22nd, but I chose a pool reception instead of the beach because I have a fear of sand blowing and getting into the food.

 

 

 

Can anyone give advice about using the beach location vs the pool location for the reception? I really like the laid back idea about the beach reception and dancing barefoot in the sand! It seems like most brides have opted for the pool area though and I wanted to know the reasoning behind that.

[jenniferrebecca]

I'm so happy I found this site!  We are booked for a Chill Out Chic package 12-11-15.  I'm really excited and overwhelmed.  How did y'alls planning calls go?  Did you feel prepared?  Right now I've looked at all their photographs and have ideas of things I'd like to upgrade within the package.  Also anyone have any feedback on the decor company?  How are their floral arrangements and what is a basic cost?   I'd love orchids in purple hues!   Thoughts on Tropic One photography?  We are prob going to book with them to forget paying the fee.  Thanks ladies!

[SandiH]

Hi Ladies, I just found this site. I am so happy I found it! I am getting married at PPC in May 2016. I have stayed at this resort for vacation and fell in love with it. I also went for a site visit in May 2015. I will be having about 40 - 45 people at my wedding and I am doing the Tailor Made package. I am so excited for my wedding. I have been reading some of the posts, I have not had a chance to read them all. Thank you for starting this thread!

[Soly29]

Hi! Is anyone getting married at PPC on or around September 19th? I'm in my final planning stages before I start working with the hotel.  I'm getting nervous making sure everything comes out perfect!

[WaterBug]

Hello Ladies!

 

This is my review of my November 2 wedding at Paradisus Punta Cana!

 

Planning: Overall the planning went smoothly when dealing with the Miami coordinator Allison. She always responded in a timely manner and answered most of my questions (even when I would send 20 in one email). The only problem I had when dealing with her that turned out to be a huge issue was about 2 months out from the wedding. In the contract, it had said that you pay an initial deposit, a 6-month deposit, and then the final payment. For the 6-month deposit, it was outlined that you would pay EITHER a flat $1500 deposit if you were undecided OR 50% of the wedding package you had chosen. At that point, Allison categorized me as undecided, even though I had given her the indication that I was interested in the Aqua package. 3 Months out from the wedding, I found out I was pregnant, so as a couple we decided to try to cut back as much as possible with the wedding expenses. We came to the conclusion that we did not need a cocktail hour, when the reception was Open Bar, we were at an all-inclusive resort, and it was a $2,000 difference. Therefore, I told Allison we would be going with the Chill-out-Chic package. She proceeded to tell me that we would need to pay the 50% of the package immediately and that she would bill my credit card. I told her I did not approve that charge, since we had already paid our 6-month deposit and were less than 1 month away from the final payment. She went ahead and charged me anyways. I immediately told her to get me in contact with her supervisor and I even went to the next level after that and reported it to Melia Hotels. After a lot of stress and frustration (they did not want to accept blame for a fraudulent credit card charge), the charge was removed and they gave us a free couple's massage. Needless to say I had also reported to my credit card company that it was a fraudulent charge and they contacted the hotel themselves to have it reimbursed. I also demanded that I wanted no further contact with anyone from Miami and that I only wanted to deal with the on-site coordinator from that point on. I was in touch with Miguelina and Beatriz the next day. Everything from that point on with them was wonderful and they were a pleasure to work with. In my opinion it is frustrating to deal with the Miami people, especially when they will not be the one there in the end overseeing your wedding day. I would have loved to be in touch with the on-site coordinators earlier in the planning. 

 

Pre-Wedding: Most guests arrived at the hotel Saturday throughout the morning and early afternoon. Everyone had a seamless check-in. We were upgraded to Royal Service and let me say we felt very spoiled all week! We had an 11:00 meeting with Beatriz to finalize all details for group dinners, a day after breakfast, and review of the wedding day timeline. She also took our ceremony music and I gave her our favors (chest full of traditional Dominican masks) and cake topper (edible butterflies), which she took care of the placement for these. We had an immediate family only dinner at Fuego that evening. Everyone loved the food and atmosphere of the restaurant (the churrasco was perfect!). Sunday we met with Tropic One Studio to finalize everything for photography. We had already paid in full months in advance and we stuck to the package we had paid for. Our meeting was with Taimir, but the photographer was Lala. The rest of the day was relaxation and preparation day. That evening, we had a rehearsal at 5 with Beatriz and it was a good idea, because the wedding party appreciated knowing what they were supposed to do! Our good friend was the officiant and he also appreciated the rehearsal. We had a whole group (25 people) rehearsal dinner at Gabi Beach and they did a great job giving us a big table that was away from everyone else. I have to say that this was during the off-season, so the restaurants, buffets, beaches, and pools were never crowded anyways.

 

Wedding day: At 10:00 we met with Beatriz to make the final decision on the location. It had poured most of the day Sunday and the day called for rain in the evening. We decided to keep the ceremony at the gazebo, but we moved the reception from the beach to the Romance Foyer, to be safe with the rain. The area was very private and beautiful with the marble floors and columns. It also had an outdoor feel because the side was open to the outside. In the end it was the best choice because the beach was wet from the previous day and it did sprinkle in the evening and the beach would have had no cover. The decor made the foyer look very beautiful so we were very happy. Around 12:00 noon my MUA artist arrived with her hair dressing assistant. She is a family friend (she did me and my sisters' quinceaneros), but is well known in the DR (Yamelis Arnemann). She was very efficient with her assistant and we were done and ready for getting ready pictures when the photographer arrived at the Bridal Suite around 3:30. She had been with the boys at 3:00 for their getting ready pictures. I highly recommend the Bridal Suite as it has lots of room for you and your girls to get ready (we were 6 total) with lots of space for the MUA to set up. Plus we got some good pics in the private garden. By 4:00, my dress was on and we were ready for First Look pictures. We decided to do this because with the weather, we were not sure how good the light was going to be as the day went on, so we wanted to get as many good pictures as we could before the ceremony. We also had time to take the Bridal Party to one of the gardens for group pictures and more pics of just us as well. They came out gorgeous! We were back with time to spare for the 5:00 ceremony at the gazebo. I am so glad we kept the gazebo because the weather was beautiful at that point and we got wonderful pictures as I had envisioned! The ceremony was only about 15-20 min and after we took some group pics with guests and then we had time to do our own photo shoot on the beach before we all headed over to the reception via transport. We had an amazing reception, the food was excellent, the entertainment great (kudos to the DJ and Bartender!), and everyone had a blast dancing the night away! After the reception, most of us changed and hung out at the beach til early morning, it was a perfect night!

 

Day after: We held a after wedding morning brunch at 9:00 (yes that early, my sister had to go back to the city for classes) at the Gabi Club buffet in the Reserve. After that it was a beach/pool day spending time with family and friends, with another group dinner at Bana (Hibachi), which was excellent as well!

 

Rest of Stay: Wednesday we had our couples massage (mine was prenatal but still wonderful) and dinner at Passions. Passions I personally would not recommend, although the food was very good, it was just not our atmosphere for eating (too fancy!). We had a free wine-pairing coupon from Royal Service, which was nice (even though I only got a few sips!). Our group did para sailing and Thursday we all went snorkeling and we all had dinner at Vento (Mediterranean Fusion). Overall we got great service the whole trip from all employees: bartenders, waiters, staff, concierge, front desk, romance team, etc. Paradisus was a great experience and we plan to go back with the baby next year! We had the time of our lives and could not have asked for anything better!

 

If anyone has any questions about planning or anything else, feel free to message me!

[Vania]

Wondering why alot of post or doing a symbolic ceremony instead of a legal ceremony.

Is it because there were too much documentation needed?

 

I'm not sure about PPC, but I'm researching other resorts and the require thins like

- Birth certificates (translated in country's language)

- Blood work done in that country

- Other legal documents (translated)

 

Wondering if most brides are getting "Married" (court house) in the states and just having the ceremony at PPC.

 

Thanks for our replies in advance.

 

Vania

[WaterBug]

Vania,

 

Yes, that is what we did because the cost of the paperwork/translation plus the extra cost of a religious ceremony vs symbolic itself was enough to sway us in that decision. Trust me, having a symbolic ceremony did not take anything away from the wedding! In fact, it gave us the chance to have a close friend officiate the ceremony, which made it more personal. We actually got legally married 6 months prior to the PPC wedding with a small ceremony with a justice of the peace and a few family members only.

[emagana]

  Wedding Review:

 
First things first if you are planning a wedding at Paradisus Punta Cana do not stress.  The resort is beautiful, the planners are great and your guest will enjoy themselves. We got married on May 22, 2016 and had a fantastic time
 
Resort:
 
The resort was gorgeous! We arrived a few days before the wedding and were greeted as soon as we got off the shuttle.  The check-in process did take a little long then we would like, but we did get an upgrade to the Royal Service and had to be taken to the check-in location there.  As part of the Royal Service upgrade we were given a butler and access to the Royal Service pool and beach.  This was great when we wanted to separate from our guest for a little after the wedding.  
 
Our butler George was awesome!  He got us reservations to all the restaurants that we wanted to try.  He even made sure to have a special turn down service in our room following the wedding. 
 
Overall the food was good, but we enjoyed more restaurants more than others.  We didn't get a chance to go to all but here is a short summary of our 2 favorite ones.  The service was always good at all locations and they made sure that you always had a drink in hand. 
 
- La Palapa:  This was our favorite, but it is only for Royal Service guests.  We went for dinner and this was the best steak and lamb that we had at the entire resort.
    
 
-Fuego: Latin fusion:  All I can say was the chicken soup!  I don't know what they called it but this appetizer was AMAZING!! It reminded me of a soup my grandmother use to make. All the food that we tried was great!
 
Wedding:
 
Our wedding was absolutely what I pictured.  I am so glad that I did not stress about it and focused on the resort and being with our guest.  For the wedding we decided on the Chil Out Chic package and had our ceremony at the wedding gazebo and the reception at the pool.  We kept all the decorations to a minimum because the surround area is so beautiful you did not have to add much.  We did do white rose centerpieces and brought a few other pieces to tie in our color (guest book, blue tealights, etc.).  I also have to add that Annabel our wedding coordinator was great.  She made sure all the little pieces were taken care of.
 
The decor company Caribbean Celebrations did exactly what we asked for.  During the planning process they were easy to communicate with through email.  That is their main form of contact so make sure you have pictures of exactly what you want.  
 
The Tropical One Photography (on-site) was great.  Our photographer did a great job telling us about the placement of our body and getting great location pics.  He was even receptive to pics we wanted to have.  
 
Future brides do not worry.  You will not regret your decision!  This is one of the best resorts in the area.  Your guest will love it (drinks, free activities, drinks, food, shows and drinks   ).  If I was to do it all over again I would not change a thing.  
 
P.S. My guests are already talking about coming back for our 1 year anniversary lol    

[MelonBear]

Hello!!

 

First Post!  

Im planning my upcoming wedding in PPC! 

I want a super small wedding. I am thinking having appx. 20 guests. So we are debating between the Fantasy and Chill out Chic package. 

After first time got back from Miguelina, I am pretty lost so far of what is in the package and what is not. I thought the package include 1 hour of Cocktail, but there are multiple options with extra charges. 

What are the stuff you guys upgraded? worth it? 

 

I see a lot of you guys are taking advantage of the Love at the first Site package. what is included in the package? 

 

I have been PPC before, Its beautiful. That's where me and my fiancé went for our first ever trip.

Thats why we wanna have our wedding there.