Barcelo Bavaro Palace Deluxe

[tricia-m]

After a year and a half of planning, it is my turn now to write my review   Get your popcorn ready, this is going to be a long read!

 

We were at the BBPD from November 2nd to November 9th.  My anxiety was at its ultimate peak when we were arriving because the weather forecast was for rain/thundershowers every day.  Note to all brides, don't pay attention to the weather. Rain is not an all day thing; it's like half and hour or an hour or throughout the night type of rain.  You will always have a great amount of sun throughout the day.

 

We came from Winnipeg (Canada) to arrive in a very hot and humid airport in Punta Cana.  I would bring an extra set of clothes to change in because the heat is no joke!  I felt like we were melting.  But in the midst of the snow right now, I wish I were there again!

 

We arrived at the resort to check in with our 78 guests.  My now husband and I were Club Premium (which I would HIGHLY recommend for the bride and groom).  The perks/vip service was totally worth it.  Check in was a breeze.  The communication skills of club premium vs the rest of the staff was definitely varied but at the end of the day, you could typically communicate what you needed. 

 

We were booked into the Master Suite Ocean Front room. We unfortunately didn’t get the free upgrade because the room was not available.  But our room was beautiful.  The ocean view was surreal. And the room was HUGE. There was more than enough room for my ladies and myself to get ready in the day of the wedding.

 

We met with Hildebranda the following morning.  Let me tell you ladies, this woman is NO JOKE!  She is AMAZING and ON POINT!  From the day started emailing till the wedding day, she made everything as perfect as it perfect could be.  Like all of the past brides have said, there is no need to worry.  Everything will ALWAYS be taken care of.  HIldebranda worked with every special request that we had.  We gave her all of our decorations, centerpieces, giveaways, name cards and menu cards.  Hildebranda and her team take care of everything for you.  This meeting was no longer than 45 minutes.

 

Wedding day was Wednesday.  I have amazing friends that although makeup and hair was included in my wedding package, I had my own makeup artist and hair stylist.  I got ready in my room along with my bridesmaids.

 

Our symbolic ceremony was at 3 pm. It down poured an hour before our ceremony but it never phased Hildebranda in changing the location.  Our ceremony was on the “Chill out Roof Top”.  It’s extremely private and has the most amazing view. 

 

I did not meet with the officiant prior to the ceremony.  His English was a little difficult to understand but the message came through.  It didn’t take away from how special it was for my husband and I.  The ceremony is quick, about 25 minutes I think?  Which works out because it was HOT HOT HOT.  Everyone was sweating buckets.  You’ll see in the video I’ve attached, I wore a full on bridal gown.  It was one sweaty mess underneath all that dress.  Haha.

 

We had our reception at the Bar Higuey.  The train picked up our guests and myself and brought us to the adult side where the convention hall was.  It was so beautifully decorated with all of our decorations.  My only concern was that it was a little hot because its an open venue.  But throughout the night it cooled down.  It was perfect.

 

We got the Caesar salad, sirloin steak and crème brulee.  The food was great, I wouldn’t change anything about it. I had a tiny bit of the cake but it too was great!  I was just too busy dancing to sit down and eat it. We got the dj package without the emcee as we had our own.  We also requested that the DJ stick to playing off my brother in laws hard drive, as he is a dj himself.  We wanted to make sure we had our hip hop and r&b.  You’ll notice Dominicans, especially at the Disco, loooove their Latin music.  Not that I have any problem with that but at our wedding I wanted to listen to our preferred music. My brother in law also dj’d part of the night, which they were totally cool with.

 

We decided to add two additional hours.  And I wouldn’t second guess spending the extra money.  We wanted to keep everyone together and partying together.  It was worth every $.  Our guests had the time of their lives and so did we!  I wish I could relive it over and over again!

 

We did the facial and massage the morning after the wedding.  It was a perfect way to just relax and be together.  The facial was probably the best I’ve ever had.  I was too nervous to had it done before the wedding because you never know how your face is going to react to it but she was amazing!  She took her time and worked wonders on my face.  I was very very impressed.

 

My overall review is also very positive.  The buffet was always an easy place to grab a bite.  The places we went for dinner were the Seafood, Mexican, Steakhouse and Kyoto (tepayaki?).  Kyoto was hands down my favorite.  It was so entertaining and we went with about 30 of our guests.  Everyone enjoyed this one the most.  The resort was unbelievably clean, the employees were ALWAYS cleaning every where.  They are also very pleasant.  If you love to salsa dance, you’ll love the disco.  They didn’t play too much hip hop or other styles of music so I could only handle so much from it.  Most of guests used Strikers (the sports bar) as the usual meeting/chilling out spot.  It had it’s own mini buffet perfect for when everyone was finished partying to grab a snack before bed.

 

With the club premium we had room service.  Which worked out really well.  Especially the day of the wedding I ordered breakfast and lunch for my ladies.  My only complain was that the food took a while to come but it wasn’t a big deal.

 

 

Our son turned 5 years old the day after the wedding.  We took him to the water park within the resort.  I wish I knew there was a height restriction on the slides and you can’t go down with the child either.  So he couldn’t enjoy the full experience.  He did enjoy the wave pool. 

 

As a group we did a Catamaran, which I also would highly recommend.  We booked this through the resort.  We had a boat all to ourselves.  I didn’t realize how seasick I got from it though.  I had to take quite a bit of gravol and prescripted nausea medicine to help.  But everyone loved snorkeling with the fish, the lobster lunch and shopping through the old village. 

 

At the end of the day, I couldn’t be any happier with the resort, Hildebranda and wedding.  My guests already want to go back and so do we!

 

We had our own photographer and videographer from Winnipeg fly up with us.  Our photos and full video probably won’t be ready for months.  But here is one picture from our engagement shoot the day before the wedding.

 

 

This is a link to my photographer’s photography if you want to check his past wedding photos.

 

http://www.joshdookhiephotography.com/

 

 

Here is a link to our “same day edit” of our wedding day.  I normally don’t sound like that when I talk haha, I think the emotions got the best of me. I hope you all enjoy.

 

http://vimeo.com/111388156

 

My husband did a surprise performance for me.  And in return, I did a surprise flash mob with my girlfriends and bridesmaids.  You’ll be able to be see a short clip of it in the video.

 

I will try to check in and help answer questions.  But ladies, it will be more than you could ever dream of.  Don’t worry. 

https://www.facebook.com/133249073430785/photos/a.349352941820396.84737.133249073430785/730202653735421/?type=1&theater

 

I"m not sure why the picture won't show up.  But here is a link to it on my photographers facebook.

[JJCB0418]

@@tricia-m thanks for sharing your special day with us!  Everyone looked great and it looked like you had an amazing time and I'm so glad everything went smoothly for you!

 

A few questions:

Were you charged a fee to bring your own photographer and videographer? 

 

Since your ceremony was at 3 and was only about 25 minutes, did you all go straight to the reception or did you have a cocktail hour while you guys did pictures?  I don't want to pay for a cocktail hour but thinking of sending my guests Bar Carey - wondering how seamless that will be.

 

How much extra was the 2 hours (I've heard different feedback on this).  My ceremony is at 5 and I'm guessing we'll take some pictures after and the reception will start at 6 and it will end at 9 (which is pretty early for my family and the disco doesn't open until 11 I think). 

 

I also have a full on bridal gown...do you regret it?  Would you suggest a lighter dress to change into at some point?

 

Did you do any of the reception add-ons?

 

When did you start planning everything out?  I've been in touch with my WC and she doesn't seem to be too concerned about me making any decisions yet (my wedding is in April). 

 

Sorry for all of the questions, but some more may come to mind!

[tricia-m]

@@JJCB0418

 

I wasn't charged a fee for my videograoher or photographer. But I had to fight for this one. I think they were just in transition of changing their policy. Because I know brides in the past had no issues. I just explained that they were my guests which was technically true and they were there the whole week.

 

After the ceremony we did photos from 3:30 to 6:00. From family, to entourage, to just us. It really did take all that time. You have to take into consideration walking from spot to spot. Its a fairly large resort and it depends where you want to take your photos.

 

My guests just went and did their own thing. I didn't specify where to go. They had time to do whatever and met at the bar Carey for pick up for the reception.

 

I am not sure how they calculate the per hour because we were originally quoted $17 per person plus DJ fees. But at our meeting she kept going back and forth with her manager and gave us a better deal. I think it ended up being $10 per person. But I think this is where you really want to create a relationship with your coordinator. Because they obviously will work a deal for you if they want too. When we came we gave her a gift right when we met her just to let know we appreciated her.

 

And you are correct disco won't start till 11pm.

 

I do not at all regret wearing a full gown. Even though it was a sweaty mess underneath. I would maybe have second dress to change in just for the dance part of the night. I thought at first that I paid all this money why change. But its not that easy to dance in the dress. Plus everyone just steps on it haha.

 

I did not do any reception upgrades.

 

Everything was finalized maybe 1 to 2 weeks prior. I was worried thinking I wasn't on top of things but you reconfirm everything again at the meeting. These wcs are really at the top of their game. Everything was taken care of.

 

Hope this helps!

[Jcastil22]

@@tricia-m hey! congrats on your wedding it looked beautiful! I am wondering how much is the DJ without the MC like you had. My WC gave me one price but the website shows another so I am just wondering. Thank you!

[ddemares]

Does anyone have pricing information for a group booze cruise? Thinking about doing a group excursion for my guests!

[Anniebee182]

Hi JG, I'm getting married on the same spot that you and I wanna see your pictures of your wedding if it's possible to you.

I'm trying your FB page but nothing. Could you help me. This is my email [email protected]

[BNeff]

Hey Ladies

 

I've been following this for some time now. I'm getting married in July and need to know if anyone has had a full service Catholic wedding there. For my in-laws this is a must and can't be skipped on. I don't care so much about the reception part. Any help and info would be great. We met with our priest here for paperwork and told us how the layout should go but knowing someone else's  experience would be great.

 

Thanks!

[miniempress]

Has anyone paid the vendor fee to bring in their own photographers/videographers?  How much was the vendor fee?  How did you decide to do this instead of using their existing photographers (Tropical Pictures)?

[Slaughter2be]

Has anyone paid the vendor fee to bring in their own photographers/videographers?  How much was the vendor fee?  How did you decide to do this instead of using their existing photographers (Tropical Pictures)?

 I was considering it but it was taking me way over my budget, not only did i have to pay for the photographer to come I also would have had to pay for the makeup artist. Decided to do our wedding off the resort. 

[AddyB]

Hey @@BNeff,

What's your wedding date in July? Mines July 3rd! I can't wait.

Edited March 11, 2015 by AddyB