Paradisus Punta Cana (PPC) Brides POST HERE!!

[deesanders33]

Congrats CDC!! I am about 3 months out and I can't wait!! 

[Janinej9]

Leila,

Wow! I had thought about doing that and I guess I definitely have to do that right now!

[maridr2012]

Janine - and Leila too actually: 

 

As I've been working with Veronica of the Paradisus Romance office, she has told me that I really do need to work hand-in-hand with Lara of Carribean Celebrations.  Don't worry about complicating things..  Lara handles all of the decorating aspects of your ceremony and reception.  The only thing she does NOT handle in regards to decorating is fresh flowers - that has to be done thru the Romance coordinator.  Hope this helps!  Good luck 

Originally Posted by Janinej9 

Leila,

Wow! I had thought about doing that and I guess I definitely have to do that right now!

 

 

[SarahNBob42]

Love your pics!!! Let me know how DJ Mannia was! I was going to bring a DJ, but plans have changed and we're going with them and also Arricefe probably.

[cdc150]

My PPC wedding review:

 

I want to start by saying that everything turned out wonderfully and could not have had a more perfect wedding.  It was difficult doing all the planning without seeing anything, but the PPC Romance team did a wonderful job putting everything together to make it the wedding of our dreams.

 

The resort:

The resort is absolutely gorgeous!  You feel like you are in the middle of the tropics and they are constantly keeping up with the grounds to ensure their beauty.  That being said, the resort is also huge.  There a trams the run every 15 minutes or so and if you are with the Royal Service you can call for one at any time.  The beaches are clean, the pool is huge with a great size bar and the rooms that I saw were kept up nicely.  We stayed at the Royal Service and had access to all the resort, wait staff at the pool/beach and private breakfast if we wanted it.   I would say the extra cost was worth it.  Plus our balcony faced the beach and the gazebo.  Nightlife was mostly in the lobby and it was a great meeting place.  I would highly recommend the Michael Jackson show which is every Sunday.  It was fantastic!  Food was okay, nothing was bad, nothing really blew my mind, besides Fuego which is an extra cost unless you are staying more than 7 days at the Royal Service.  We were lucky enough to go for free.  Our fave was the Italian after that. 

 

Rehearsal:

We decided the day before we wanted to do a formal rehearsal.  Miguelina arranged a rehearsal in the lobby so everyone knew which order to walk in and then we had a very nice dinner at the Gabi Club.  The food was excellent and it was a great atmosphere.  Our guests enjoyed it because they normally wouldn't have access to the Reserve area.   It was quiet for speeches and had a good bar.  Afterwards we met in the lobby with everyone else who was at the resort.  Miguelina sent letters to everyone's room letting them know when and where to meet.  We had 27 people at the rehearsal, with 3 tables of 7.  We did not get charged extra for it. 

 

[cdc150]

Ceremony:

It could not have been more perfect!  There was an unbelievable breeze from the ocean and the light was perfect at 6:30 for a very romantic feel to the wedding. I put together a CD for the ceremony which went off without a hitch.  We walked through the gazebo to enter the beach and then to the canopy they set up.  We had the aqua package. 

We used Pastor Rick York for our ceremony.  I could not  speak highly enough of him.  His ceremony was absolutely beautiful with the perfect amount of humor in it.  It was a quick 20 minutes which all our friends seemed to appreciate.  All our guests came up to us after to say how great he was.   I listened to a few other ceremonies while at the resort and the girl the resort provides isn't half as good.  It's worth the extra money to pay for the Pastor, he was awesome!

After the ceremony we walked off the beach and they served everyone champagne... because we got married so late in the day our cocktail hour was next to our reception at the pool.

 

Cocktail/Reception:

Again, everything was perfect!  Cocktail hour has a good amount of food and everything was delicious.  Get the quesadillas, I can eat those all day.  They had one bartender for cocktail hour and 2 for the reception.  The bartender was amazing, he danced the entire night and was hilarious.  He exchanged email addresses with one of my guests so they can be facebook friends, it was great.  We got the grill menu and there was an incredible amount of food!  They were grilling throughout cocktail hour and everything tasted great.  If you like chocolate, get the chocolate wedding cake!  I hate wedding cake and it was one of the best cakes I every had in my life.   The setup was exactly what we had in our head, and she did a wonderful job incorporating the extras I brought with me. 

 

We met with the DJ the day before the wedding and and provided him with a list before we left.  The MC was good and announced everyone correctly and the DJ kept the music going all night.  We did not stop dancing for 4 hours.  Besides sweating the whole night it was a great time! He even provided fireworks during our first dance. 

 

We used PhotoSouvenir for our photographer and he did an amazing job!  We love our pics and can't wait to receive our album. 

 

 

the PPC Romance team, and especially Miguelina provided us the wedding of our dreams and we could not be happier.  Our only regret was that we didn't stay longer. 

 

If any of you have questions, please let me know. 

 

happy planning,

Cortney

 

[leila29]

Cortney, 

 

Your wedding was beautiful and it makes me so excited for October! You look gorgeous!

 

When did you set up your formal rehearsal? Did you make a reservation for your rehearsal dinner prior to your arrival or did you decide when you got there? Also, how did you arrange it to be at the Gabi Club? Did you request it?

 

Also, did you get upgraded to Royal Service or is that what you booked? Do you recommend all of the guests do RS? I was thinking that it would be nice more me and my fiance but not much of a reason for the other guests to do RS. Thanks in advance for answering these questions!

 

Leila

[cdc150]

 

Originally Posted by leila29 

Cortney, 

 

Your wedding was beautiful and it makes me so excited for October! You look gorgeous!

 

When did you set up your formal rehearsal? Did you make a reservation for your rehearsal dinner prior to your arrival or did you decide when you got there? Also, how did you arrange it to be at the Gabi Club? Did you request it?

 

Also, did you get upgraded to Royal Service or is that what you booked? Do you recommend all of the guests do RS? I was thinking that it would be nice more me and my fiance but not much of a reason for the other guests to do RS. Thanks in advance for answering these questions!

 

Leila

 

Thanks, Leila!

 

We setup our rehearsal when we did our walkthrough with Miguelina the day after we arrived.  She picked the Gabi because it would accommodate our large party and she said it would be the quietest place for it. 

 

We booked the Royal Service.  None of our other guests had it and didn't need it.  It was just nice to get special treatment for your wedding. 

 

Any other questions let me know.

 

~Cortney

[leila29]

Thanks Cortney and congrats again!!

[maridr2012]

Hi Cortney. Did you work with Lara of Caribbean Celebrations? They're the company Paradisus uses to decorate. I ask because I'm putting together details for the ceremony and reception. Caribbean Celebrations is charging me $85 + tax just to set up the seating card table. I think that's crazy! Did you have a seating card table for your reception, and did you just do that yourself/bridesmaids or did you have to pay for it? Also, did you bring a gift card box with you for your reception? They're telling me they don't provide that and I can ship it down or carry in my luggage (I don't like either option).