The Hard Rock Punta Cana

[vinarum]

Tatiana - that's great that you're not experiencing any frustrations but I honestly think you're one of the few. I have honestly been very patient. I will make sure I write a post after my wedding.

[ZsaZsa007]

Hi!  How much did you rent the projector?  I am thinking of doing a slideshow as well.

[sunlover]

Hi Tatiana,

Are you 100 guests booked for 7+ nights? Or just the weekend?

[may2013brides]

I know someone posted earlier about if they you have to pay for a day pass for Caribbean Celebrations to enter the resort.  I had an email from Angelica @ CC saying they are the hard rock's daily supplier so there is no fee to enter the resort.  Just a set up and take down fee.

[KBee1127]

Hello ladies, 

 

I am new to this site and looking into planning my wedding at the Hard Rock Punta Cana in March of 2013. I've already run in to the same communication problems that everyone else is having. I requested my date almost two weeks ago and have continuously been promised that a confirmation email is to come but I have heard nothing :/  For those of you that have used an outside travel agent/wedding planner and found it to be more helpful, could you recommend someone? I was hoping to find someone who had experience in working with the Hard Rock but I guess that is unlikely. 

 

[jackson13]

Hello Ladies I am also planning my wedding at Hard Rock. I am finally booked for May 2013. Like many of you I am also having a lot of issues with the Miami office. I think I may just plan a site visit so that I do not have to deal with them. For those of you that have done that, were you able to meet with a on site coordinator and choose your function locations? I am really so happy that I found this site. I was originally booked for Moon Palace in Mexico and found all the information I could ever need on the Moon Palace 2012 forum when Miami could not even answer my simple questions. I am looking forward to sharing info and ideas with fellow Hard Rock brides. Happy Planning!!

[Shimiki]

I too was told that by Carribean Celebrations. However when I asked Hrd Rock they said that outside vendors were forbidden and that I had to go through them and they would get the quotes. It looks like they use Carribean Celebrations or Creative Punta Cana.

 

[stephydmd]

Hi All!

My fiance and I just did a pre-site wedding visit to Hard Rock this week AND IT WAS AMAZINGGG! My fiance had to pry my body of the lobby floor when we were leaving. We are getting married June 2012...eek soon! We will be having 50 guests, including us. We qualify for the 75 room nights = free unlimited functions! My advice, if you think you can get this 75 room nights, then have your wedding at hard rock. We booked our wedding months ago, thanks to some great reviews on this website (e.g. ginamapi's video). We have been sweating ever since there have been some outrageously poor reviews about it on this website and tripadvisor. Alas, we have NO worries. For those who have time or can afford to visit before your wedding, I'd highly recommend. You can just pick out all your events/etc and their locations then. We had wanted Eden Pool for a Welcome dinner, but it was already booked! Sorry about my pictures, I don't know why they are intermixed within my text. The pictures are of the ballroom, the avalon foyer (the reception cocktail hour location, located right outside the ballroom), and of Toro Terrace.

 

Back to our pre-site visit: We met with our WC, Melissa Santos (very helpful!). We too were really worried since we had not been able to get some of our questions answered before we went to visit. We have been assigned to Rene, and I had actually had a conference call with her last week right before we left for our trip. Like some of you guys have said, she asks: how many extra chairs ($$) do you need at ceremony, which site do you want ceremony, type of cake (chocolate, strawberry, vanilla), how many bridesmaids bouquets do you want? (i am going to be doing parasols), my bridal bouquet color (white, ivory, some other colors I forgot since I am only considering white or ivory), etc. I was only able to answer a few of her questions since I had no idea what I wanted yet (hence our site visit!). We had originally wanted the one of original wedding collections ("Sapphire"), but they are being phased out, and beginning June 2012, all weddings will be offered the Colin Cowie Collection (or Complimentary Collection) only. We are getting married in end of June. Boooo.

 

We dislike the Colin Cowie Collection, they are a bit too tacky for our taste. Also, they are hefty in terms of price. Melissa (the WC) showed us we can change our event decor through Creative Punta Cana or Carribbean Celebrations. In particular, we are going to use Creative PC since she printed out their pamphlets for us, but they are basically the same. Since we have 75 RNs, we get the unlimited private functions. With our events, we get standard round tables (hold 8 individuals) with regular style chairs (not Tiffany chairs). All white in linens.

 

We decided to only do a few private functions, since we don't want to tie everyone up. We get 3 hours of private functions per day, if it is a cocktail with dinner, the cocktail hour is 1 hour, followed by a 2 hour dinner. We are getting married on a Friday, so here are our private events:

 

Thursday: welcome cocktail hour (Moon Lounge; indoors) from 5-7pm

Friday: Ceremony at 3:00 (Gazebo; outdoors), post-ceremony cocktail hour from 4-5pm (Toro Terrace; outdoors), and cocktail hour/reception (7-8; 8-10; fillmore ballroom). We are purchasing an extra hour of DJ/event ($$), so our dinner and reception will go until 11pm.

Saturday: Farewell Party, cocktail hour with buffet 6:30-9:30pm (Eden Pool; outdoors)

 

We finally choose to do a Ballroom in the end for reception because we are worried about the weather (HEAT! RAIN?!?). Problem is, the ballroom needs to be spruced up (it is very [ugly] ballroom looking...which I think is weird since we are in a tropical paradise!). We were debating between a cocktail hour and dinner at an outdoor venue: Sax pool or Eclipse Terrace. With an outdoor event, dinner must be buffet. However, ballrooms are the only places for indoor receptions on the resort, and the only way to get a plated dinner (hello beef fillet). 

 

Back to the decorations:

Both these event decorators are approved vendors at Hard Rock (Creative Punta Cana is the in-house vendor), and can cater to anything that you want (including lighting, table decor and centerpieces, lounge furniture, AV equipment, etc). Check out their websites to get a sample of what they can do.

 

Here's a brief list of prices from Creative Punta Cana's Decor Catalogue as of our visit.

 

Table runner       $8

Chair sash         $5

Tiffany chair       $10 for black, golden, white. $12 for Brown or Silver

 

Center Pieces:

   Natural flowers arrangement    $50 starting

   LED wax candle                     $15

   Candle and sea shells            $35

   Artificial flower/candle/stones  $45

   Natural flower/candle/stones   $60

   

Ballroom decors:

   Hanging lamps                         $35

   White fabric for walls/ceiling      $20  (my tip: A MUST if you want to "mask" the dividing walls in the ballroom) 

   Star drapery                             $200 for a 18 ft x 24 ft piece (6x8m)

  

Other:

   Light-up constellation table        $90

   Glow table                               $65 (white, green, red, blue)

   

Lounge furniture 

   Four-post bed                         $80 (white or red)

   Love seats                              $28

   Ottoman                                 $20

   Heavy black table (8-10ppl)       $50    

 

The prices are PER UNIT and do not include 16% DR tax! don't hold me to the prices, you should contact your wedding coordinator for a list of current prices. But anyway, anything can be customized...just let them know what your want! We are going to put white drapings on the walls with accent lighting to give it some ambiance. We have to purchase accent lighting in addition. We don't know how much that is going to cost yet.

 

But!: in the end, we know everyone is gonna have a blast (especially with the A/C of the ballroom hehe) so gals, don't sweat the small stuff!

 

My pictures are of the ballroom (that's me running like an idiot because I was bored). For 50 people, we were told two of the "Squares" would suffice for our reception.

[jackson13]

Thanks for the great info stephydmd...you just sealed the deal for me and I am definitely going to book a site visit. I think it will be great to have all of my locations booked directly with resort so I don't have to deal with Miami. I do have one question for you..can you tell me the cost of the extension of the reception. I think I remember reading 65 per table per hour but just want to make sure that has not changed...thanks and good luck...you are almost there!!!

[may2013brides]

Can someone please tell me how you are flying to the resort if you are booking your room nights directly with the hotel? How much are they charging per room?