Stressed and frustrated

[Praye]

Hi all,

    I would like to have a wedding on Sept 1st 2012.  I can't decide between Majestic Elegance and Paradisus Palma real.  At first Majestic Elegance looked great for flights and hotels fees but then when I went to calculate the wedding cost, it was way over the cost to have a wedding at Paradisus Palma real.  I  have never been to either of these resorts and afraid that I would pick the wrong one in the end.

    Has anyone been to both resorts and can give me some feedback?

 

AHHH, I'm so frustrated ;(

 

Sandy

 

 

[lesee]

Hi Praye

 

I'm getting married at the Paradisus Palma Real on April 18th - I've never been to the resort myself but I've been in contact with a girl who got married there last August and said it was amazing. I've asked her about everything from the rooms to food to service and making reservations at the a la carte restaurants. So far I have no complaints in dealing with the resort and the wedding coordinator staff. They've been great. My FI did all the research on the resorts and he really liked PPR. I'm sorry I can't be of much help other than that but I can let you know my experiences when we get back home at the end of April.  I had the same fears and apprehensions as you are having - just do the research and know what you want out of the resort you want to get married at. 

 

There is a review that is quite thourough on PPR if you look up the resort reviews that is recent.

 

Don't stress! You'll pick the right place for you!

[Praye]

Thank You so much Lesee!  Let me know how it goes and Congrats!!! 

I will do some more researching!  Thank you so much for your reply!

 

Sandy

[islandbride8]

Choosing a resort was the hardest planning decision for my FI and I. Pricing was a big factor for us, but we had a number of priorities we looked at including proximity to the airport, wedding packages, adult only vs. kid friendly, ect. We ended up choosing the Majestic Elegance. We went with Majestic because although we really wanted an adults only resort, we wanted it to be an option for families to attend as well. The Majestic has an Elegance Club, which is a section of the resort that is Adult Only while the majority of the resort is kid friendly. I really think it would be hard to make a wrong decision when it comes to a resort. There are so many options and they all look amazing! Just do your research and agree on your resort priorties, the rest will fall into place. I would suggest checking out tripadvisor and other sites like that to get feedback from people who have been there. Good luck planning!

[Praye]

 

 

Originally Posted by islandbride8 

Choosing a resort was the hardest planning decision for my FI and I. Pricing was a big factor for us, but we had a number of priorities we looked at including proximity to the airport, wedding packages, adult only vs. kid friendly, ect. We ended up choosing the Majestic Elegance. We went with Majestic because although we really wanted an adults only resort, we wanted it to be an option for families to attend as well. The Majestic has an Elegance Club, which is a section of the resort that is Adult Only while the majority of the resort is kid friendly. I really think it would be hard to make a wrong decision when it comes to a resort. There are so many options and they all look amazing! Just do your research and agree on your resort priorties, the rest will fall into place. I would suggest checking out tripadvisor and other sites like that to get feedback from people who have been there. Good luck planning!

Hi Islandbride,

    Thanks for posting!  I ended up picking Paradisus Palma Real for 9/1/2012, waiting on the confirmation.    Happy wedding!!!

 

   

 

 

[Aphrodite]

Glad you picked your resort

 

I agree it was the most frustrating thing.  I know some people are able to go out to the DR and look around and then pick a resort that way, but unfortunately that wasn't an option for us because we really couldn't have been able to pay for 2 trips this year.

 

I got some good advice from my cousin who is a travel agent - she said first and foremost, email the WCs of the resorts and if you don't get prompt responses, then forget it because this is the person you need to talk to about planning your wedding when you can't be there to overlook anything.

That was how I ended up with my resort.

I knew I wanted a 5 star, no exceptions, a good price for the wedding package and group rates, my date was very important to us - so a few of the hotels we looked at didn't even have our date (I think our first choice was Dreams) so we ended up with Gran Bahia Principe Punta Cana and I'm actually really excited after talking to other brides on the forum and other people that went there for their vacations!

[Praye]

 

Originally Posted by Aphrodite 

Glad you picked your resort

 

I agree it was the most frustrating thing.  I know some people are able to go out to the DR and look around and then pick a resort that way, but unfortunately that wasn't an option for us because we really couldn't have been able to pay for 2 trips this year.

 

I got some good advice from my cousin who is a travel agent - she said first and foremost, email the WCs of the resorts and if you don't get prompt responses, then forget it because this is the person you need to talk to about planning your wedding when you can't be there to overlook anything.

That was how I ended up with my resort.

I knew I wanted a 5 star, no exceptions, a good price for the wedding package and group rates, my date was very important to us - so a few of the hotels we looked at didn't even have our date (I think our first choice was Dreams) so we ended up with Gran Bahia Principe Punta Cana and I'm actually really excited after talking to other brides on the forum and other people that went there for their vacations!

I have a destination wedding coordinator who contacts the WC and they get back to her real quick.   We have thought of visiting the resort this year, around the same time we would be getting married next year to get a feel for the weather, time of sunset, and of course, the resort. 

 

Thanks for you post and happy wedding, Aphrodite!

 

 

 

[mandys]

I know someone that went to a wedding at Majestic Elegance. The all inclusive price was really good, and they said the wedding and resort was really nice.

[Praye]

How was your wedding Lesee???  I just talked to Diana and it took her two weeks to get back to me and told me that their photographer is Arrecife Studios.  I'm worried because some threads on here stated that they would tell people to put their cameras down. Did this happen to you?

 

Congrats on being married, Lesee!

[lesee]

Hi Praye!!!!

The wedding was so great! I can't say enough good about it. Diana and Lenny were great - they do have an issue with returning emails in a timely manner but don't worry. You shouldn't have a concern on your day and the set up and the dinner was flawless. I can't say enough amazing things about Arrecife Studios. Seriously...AMAZING photos. Kara (our photographer) was not only so incredibly nice but very talented and I loved working with her. Claudia was a sweetheart - I think she runs the Arrecife office - if you want her contact info I can PM it to you. I had heard the same thing and I contacted Claudia immediately and she reassured me that they would never ask anyone to put their cameras down. Both my sisters have SLR cameras and their husband shot throughout the entire ceremony. Our photos did end up costing more than we thought because we didn't think we would love all the photos and we wanted to have them all - we didn't want to regret not having all of them.

 

Here's a photo from Arrecife:

 

 

 

Originally Posted by Praye 

How was your wedding Lesee???  I just talked to Diana and it took her two weeks to get back to me and told me that their photographer is Arrecife Studios.  I'm worried because some threads on here stated that they would tell people to put their cameras down. Did this happen to you?

 

Congrats on being married, Lesee!