Paradisus Punta Cana (PPC) Brides POST HERE!!

[lmazz729]

LoriOlivia,

 

I just looked at the wedding pictures again to make sure that I remembered correctly. The beach was not that crowded, maybe because the ceremony was at 5:30 PM. There was quite a bit of space between the wedding chairs and the rest of the beach chairs with the towels draped over.

Just remind the photographer that you don't want other people in the photos if it can be helped.

My daughter and son-in-law wanted the ceremony and the reception on the beach, and the guys were all barefoot. The cocktail hour was on the sandy part next to the gazebo and the reception on the sand in front of the Gabi Club.They had a family friend perform the ceremony (which they wrote) and the judge performed the civil ceremony in the Romance Team office later. A friend of the groom was the emcee and the DJ just played the requested music.

I have to say that there is probably no way to eliminate the gawkers altogether, no matter where your ceremony takes place. January is high season and the place is packed with people.

Having said that, I also want you to know that you will probably be totally focused on the ceremony itself and your friends and family who come to share your day.

[SimplenSweet]

Hey ladies- thanks for your feedback. I am doing a very casual, sand under your feet wedding as well, so I guess I will just keep everything over by the gazebo for now. Hearing everyone's feedback makes it easier. I will plan on doing the ceremony at the gazebo, and will use the sandy area beside of the gazebo for the cocktail hour. my wedding is Nov 19th- which is just after hurricane season BUT it's thanksgiving week so I'm scared that there will be a ton of people there as well. I think you guys are right that there will never be a total elimination of the gawkers, but if it can be reduced then that is just fabulous. I would love pictures on the beach... but they willl be probably more around 2-3pm... we plan to do the cocktail hour (and Brandon and I will enjoy this then instead of pics) and then after the cocktail hour, take everyone down to the water for a group shot or two...then we break the news that we're going to be going on La Barcaza and our guests will have about an hour and a half to get back to their rooms/change/ and get back down to the lobby. Maybe I will ask about the tram coming to pick up people from the beach at about 2:15 to take them back to their rooms (do you think they do this?)

 

Lamazz, do you have any photos from the cocktail hour on the sandy part beside of the gazebo?

[lmazz729]

Unfortunately I don't. The photographer had the wedding party, and then my daughter and son-in-law, down on the beach taking pictures. By the time he got back to the gazebo the cocktail hour was almost done and there are only a few pictures of the gazebo and some guests.

Sorry...
 

[jocel26]

hi,

 

i noticed you mentioned you were at PPC in january. do you recall the hotel rates at that time? right now its going at 225/pppn but i'm not sure if it will go down some more.

 

thanks in advance.
 

[LoriOlivia]

I originally had a group rate (it expired in August) when I set up the date for the wedding.  It was very reasonable but a huge pain to get all my friends to book so early.

However, you are right now the prices are much more

[mariel12]

Hi ladies! Thank you all for all the updates and great info on here! I feel like its been the greatest help in trying to stay calm and have faith in the process in spite of all the unavoidable stress!

I also had a question and was wondering if anyone had the same dilemma. I'm trying to decide whether to book a group rate with a travel agent (a friend of ours) or to have everyone book it individually through the website or call centers.

 

Pros of everyone booking it individually: the rate is better (by $10) but better nonetheless which I found strange that they wouldn't give the wedding group a better rate than individual online booking. Also they have an offer where they give you free VIP band that gives you access to Royal services areas, free internet access, among other amenities. Also when booking individually, people would pay once they get there vs having to deal with ppl giving deposits ahead of time. The cons is that if anything goes wrong - misplaced reservations, etc - its gonna be a nightmare not having any one specific person to help me through it.

 

With the travel agent, the rates we got were a bit more expensive as mentioned before & there's no offer for access to any VIP amenities. But if anything were to go wrong at least I would have the peace of mind of having that one person that could help me sort things out.

 

Which route did you ladies take & what did you find was the most helpful? Our group size we're expecting to be around 40-50 guests. Did any of you had VIP access for your guests? Did you find that it was necessary or that it made a difference in your vacation? We went in July for a site inspection and had the Royal Service so we just loved it and just wanna offer our guests the best stay possible & make sure that they would enjoy themselves. Thank you in advance for your help and input!

[mariel12]

Also, what is a reasonable & gracious compensation for the travel agent? I'm kind of kicking myself in the behind for not having asked that question from the get go and now I feel it'd be awkward to bring it up since she's already helped a lot. But since I've never done this before planning anything through a travel agent I am completely clueless as to how to go about it and how do they even get paid or what is a good thank you gift or good tip. Thnx again! 

[SimplenSweet]

Hi Mariel- glad you found our online community!

 

Well, I can only speak for myself but I decided not to book through a travel agent because the PPC is pretty rigid on theiir booking rules and I really had no idea how many people would end up coming down. I would look into seeing if the PPC is willing to give you incentives for booking through a travel agent (and getting a group contract- which is key!). They had been running a special where you get free rooms for every guest that books or something..... I decided NOT to go through a travel agent (most people saved on average $250 per head by booking through external sites or the hotel) instead of what the TA was quoting me. However, I see that it would make it easier if something went wrong- but I also found for me that the rate through the TA also wouldn't have turned out well as we have some people going really early, and leaving early, and some coming late and staying late through the week, etc.

 

All in all, I would say I am happy with my decision. I am trying to get the Miami coordinator to give me a cocktail welcome hour (I am booking 25 rooms) even though I didn't do a group contract...we'll see how that goes!

[LoriOlivia]

Hi Mariel,

I set up a group rate through the Miami office (Romance office).  The price offered was between 1/2 and 2/3 less than what it costs to book directly through the Paradisus site or a site like Orbitz. I am getting married in January which is considered high season.

Guests can chose which level of service room they want, but they are all substantially cheaper.  We have 47 rooms booked.  I think they wanted 30 minimum.

 

Pros:

-much cheaper

-we get a credit for every several rooms booked (we are staying in the royal service for 7 days for almost nothing)

-We have a detailed lists of which guest are coming when and where they are staying in the resort

-We can make requests to have certain people situated new eachother

 

Cons:

-Aug 15th deadline (which was fine because we got our save the dates well before)

-$100 deposit/per person  (if you cancel up to 30 days before which is when final payment is due, 50% of the deposit was refundable)

[JennyAdele]

Would you mind sharing pricing for La Barcaza? I think thats a great idea!!