The Hard Rock Punta Cana

[IdoBeach2012]

I'm so grateful to have found this thread. I too am considering the HRH Punta Cana however, we're having concerns due to the mixed reviews out there. It seems people LOVE it or Hate it and there are very few wedding reviews I can find. This property seems to be perfect and offer so many options to their guests. We're planning to get married next fall and will have 60 guests and a few children. We feel obligated in many ways to assure a spectacular time for them. Due to the cost and lack of reviews we're super nervous.

I spent quite a bit of time today reading this entire thread and it seems many of you share in my concerns. Also, it appears many of you have made the decision to book your wedding there. (Congrats to all of you!!!)

I'm really hoping to see great reviews from all of your upcoming weddings, any light you can shed will be MUCH APPRECIATED!!!

[ginamapi]

Hi Girls! I am actually going down this Thursday-Sunday to meet with Nancy and see all the places to get married,, have cocktail hour, and the reception. I will take pics and let you guys know how it goes.

[vinarum]

Hello Ladies...

 

My name is Van and we just recently booked our wedding date for April 16, 2012. It's 8 months away but I feel like I still have so much to do and so many questions to ask.

 

My fiance and I kinda did things backwards where we booked the resort before we invited our guests. The group is relatively small but we're on the borderline of having more than 35 guests. I was wondering how the wedding planning process work? If we pay for the private function, when do we choose the food? What are the options  as to where the reception will be?

 

We land on the Thursday and our wedding is on the Monday, I was told that both the bride and the groom have to be in the country for 3 business days before a ceremony can take place. Is this correct?

 

Does anyone have any suggestions for make-up artists and stylists?

 

I don't even have my shoes yet...yikes.

 

Any info helps.

 

Thanks,

Van

 

 

[IdoBeach2012]

That's great! I can't wait to see what you find out and would love to see pics!

 

Good luck,

Dana

[ginamapi]

Hi Girls!

 

So we got back on Sunday and it was awesome! For what we want the Hard Rock is the perfect place. We wanted it to be fun and young, but strill rpetty and tropical with good food and drinks. And it definitely is all of that. The resort is big but once you walk around it is very easy to navigate. The grounds are nott that flowery as other small resorts but they are manicured perfectly and still ver pretty especially when all lightup at night. The rooms are awesome! We ended up getting upgraded toa presidential suite but the regular room which the majority of our guests are staying in are pefrect. They are big and decorated really cool and the jacuzzis are awesome. The presidential suite is amazing and we're defintiely getting this when we go back for the wedding. The link below will show you everything (its the video i took while i was there, not the best quality but you'll be able to see everything) Our suite had 1.5 bathrooms, a dining room a living room, a big bedroom witha  sitting area and jacuzzi and a huge bathroom with a walkin closet and huge patio. I loved it! The staff are great! They are very helpful, so nice, and alwasy want to make sure you are having fun. And the resort is definetly fun. Just like all Hard Rock hotels there is music playing everywhere 24 hours a day. The main building that has all the abrs and most of the restuarnts and the casino and the spa ia great. Its so nice inside and there is literally just one bar, restuarant, shop, and cafe or deli after another. At night it was very lively with karaoke in one bar and dance music in another. We had a blast jsut the two of us so when our whole group comes we know its going to be awesome. The casino is really cool too. My fiance loved the sports book place. It had like 90 tvs with every game on that you can think of.... The food was somehting i was really worried about and it was surprisinlgy so good! When we got there we at at Caffetto and I had a panini which was decent and he had a burger which was oddly good. For dinner we at at Ipanema, the Brazilian steak house and it was very good. All the meats we had were  so good and the waiter was great and the sides we really good; The mashed potatoes were so thick but sooo good. Breakfast was good. Made to order omlets, waffles, toast, panckaces etc. For a buffet it was actually pretty good. Lunch we ate at the pool buffet and it was pretty decent. It was typical burgers, hot dogs, nachos etc and they all tasted good to me. We also at at the italian place Ciao but taht wasnt taht great but Im italian and i think its really ahrd to get good italian. I was not expected italian at an all inclusive to be good. It definetly wasnt bad, definitely edible,  but just wasnt like NY italian food but if you dont expcet that then you are fine. The other night we had hibachi and it was awesome! The steak and chicken were soo good i was amazed! We also had the ice cream and milkshakes and Ice cone and they are amazing! and the crepes and sante fe which also are awesome! And we ordered room service and again all good.

 

For the wedding we got to see all theplaces we could choose from for our welcome party, ceremony, cocktail hour and reception and brunch the next day. Every options was really great and it was hard to choose but eneded up going with the welcome party ont he rooftop terrace at Toro, the ceremony on the Isla beach, the cocktail hour at the Eden pool, and the recpetion inthe ballroom. The brunch will be at Los Gallos. I'm soo happy with our choices and so happy we picked Hard Rock. After seeing it and being there it made me feel so good about sending 100+ people down here for a vacation. Oh and the spa is amazing!!! The ritual theyput youthrough before the spa was great! Nothing ive ever experienced before and Ive been to  a ton of spas.  If anyone has any questions definitely let me know.

 

xoxo

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyFQZAWLCS4

 

 

[ginamapi]

Hi Van,

 

So I knowthe answeres to some of your questions. They give you a planner 3-6 motnhs before your wedding. Your ceremony can be on the beach or it can be at one of the wedding gazebos off of the beach that are surronded by a pool of wwater or you can have it indoors I think. The reception an be pretty much anywhere i think so up to you if you want it indoor or outdoor. Do you thin you will have more than 75 room nights when you added up allthe ngihts you adn your guests will be staying? If so then you get free unlimited partites. For the food you can either do a buffet or plated dinner and they can send youa ll the options for that. For the buffet there are like 15 diffent buffet options and there are lots of options for the plated dinner as well.

 

As for as being thee 3 days before. If youa re legally getting married down there then you avhe to be there 3 days before. If you are doing a symbolic ceremony then it doesnt matter. We were going to do the legal ceremony but there was just way to much paper work involved and we heard that the judge who does the legal ones doesnt get very personal or romantic where if you have a sumbolic ceremony the minister makes it more personal and romantic and you can include any reading or poemes or sand ceremony etc.

 

They do have a beauty salon there and teh people i saw getting blow outs there hair looked great! I dont know how they are with make up or updos but the people i saw getting their hair done did look good. 

if you have any other questions defintely let me know. I asked so many when iwas down there i feel like i work there haha.

 

Gina

[sunlover]

Thanks for uploading the video & sharing Gina!!!!

We also visited the resort & loved it!!! We have over 70 people coming to our wedding in April & were very happy with the resort! We loved everything about it- the beach, the food, rooms etc. Your video brought back all the memories

I haven't been assigned a WC yet but I was told they would contact me in January to book the spaces (ceremony, reception, welcome dinner etc). I have since heard that others were able to book these places more than 6mths in advance... so confused!!! Anyone in the same situation?

[danay15]

I just joined the site and was checking out this thread...your video was a great help as far as seeing the resort without being able to go there in person before the wedding. Thank you!

[asiamarie1]

Thank you so much for the information and the video. We are having our wedding at another location but we are spending our honeymoon at the Hard Rock and now I can't wait!!
 

Originally Posted by ginamapi 

Hi Girls!

 

So we got back on Sunday and it was awesome! For what we want the Hard Rock is the perfect place. We wanted it to be fun and young, but strill rpetty and tropical with good food and drinks. And it definitely is all of that. The resort is big but once you walk around it is very easy to navigate. The grounds are nott that flowery as other small resorts but they are manicured perfectly and still ver pretty especially when all lightup at night. The rooms are awesome! We ended up getting upgraded toa presidential suite but the regular room which the majority of our guests are staying in are pefrect. They are big and decorated really cool and the jacuzzis are awesome. The presidential suite is amazing and we're defintiely getting this when we go back for the wedding. The link below will show you everything (its the video i took while i was there, not the best quality but you'll be able to see everything) Our suite had 1.5 bathrooms, a dining room a living room, a big bedroom witha  sitting area and jacuzzi and a huge bathroom with a walkin closet and huge patio. I loved it! The staff are great! They are very helpful, so nice, and alwasy want to make sure you are having fun. And the resort is definetly fun. Just like all Hard Rock hotels there is music playing everywhere 24 hours a day. The main building that has all the abrs and most of the restuarnts and the casino and the spa ia great. Its so nice inside and there is literally just one bar, restuarant, shop, and cafe or deli after another. At night it was very lively with karaoke in one bar and dance music in another. We had a blast jsut the two of us so when our whole group comes we know its going to be awesome. The casino is really cool too. My fiance loved the sports book place. It had like 90 tvs with every game on that you can think of.... The food was somehting i was really worried about and it was surprisinlgy so good! When we got there we at at Caffetto and I had a panini which was decent and he had a burger which was oddly good. For dinner we at at Ipanema, the Brazilian steak house and it was very good. All the meats we had were  so good and the waiter was great and the sides we really good; The mashed potatoes were so thick but sooo good. Breakfast was good. Made to order omlets, waffles, toast, panckaces etc. For a buffet it was actually pretty good. Lunch we ate at the pool buffet and it was pretty decent. It was typical burgers, hot dogs, nachos etc and they all tasted good to me. We also at at the italian place Ciao but taht wasnt taht great but Im italian and i think its really ahrd to get good italian. I was not expected italian at an all inclusive to be good. It definetly wasnt bad, definitely edible,  but just wasnt like NY italian food but if you dont expcet that then you are fine. The other night we had hibachi and it was awesome! The steak and chicken were soo good i was amazed! We also had the ice cream and milkshakes and Ice cone and they are amazing! and the crepes and sante fe which also are awesome! And we ordered room service and again all good.

 

For the wedding we got to see all theplaces we could choose from for our welcome party, ceremony, cocktail hour and reception and brunch the next day. Every options was really great and it was hard to choose but eneded up going with the welcome party ont he rooftop terrace at Toro, the ceremony on the Isla beach, the cocktail hour at the Eden pool, and the recpetion inthe ballroom. The brunch will be at Los Gallos. I'm soo happy with our choices and so happy we picked Hard Rock. After seeing it and being there it made me feel so good about sending 100+ people down here for a vacation. Oh and the spa is amazing!!! The ritual theyput youthrough before the spa was great! Nothing ive ever experienced before and Ive been to  a ton of spas.  If anyone has any questions definitely let me know.

 

xoxo

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyFQZAWLCS4

 

 

 

[DRb2b]

I'm soooo excited after reading your review.  I wanna go now!...lol. I can't wait to watch the video when I get home (I can't view it where I am now).  I've been a little nervous booking it without being able to actually go there and check it out but after reading your review I feel better.  THANK YOU so much for sharing!!!