2013 Paradisus Palma Real

[DP1andDP2]

Originally Posted by erica12 

 

Hey everyone

 

I have another question for everyone- if you are doing a symbolic ceremony, how far in advance are you getting married legally in the states before? just curious!

Hey Erica12,

 

My fiance and I are getting married a few days before we leave. We are getting the license from the circuit court a few weeks before--in Maryland you have 6 months to get it signed. We will exchange vows in the pastor's quarters on Monday. He will sign the license and then we will file it. Get married Monday, leave for PC Wednesday, have ceremony Saturday.

 

I hope I have this right! Whew!

[angelnjewels]

Hi again everyone! Dp1andDP2, thanks for your suggestions. I am going to ask if the entice me package applies if your wedding is going to be more than a year after your travel date. We are thinking that a summer wedding is going to be the best option right now because that is the only time some family members can travel. How many guests are you having? Again all suggestions/ advice would be if great help! It's nice to talk to brides that are going through the same thing or have experienced the destination weddings... good luck to all, Angel

[maggiestolzberg]

Erica - I shot a wedding there in May and it really is the most beautiful resort in the D.R. I loved the resort, service and of course the wedding! Here are some photos from the rehearsal and wedding. Activities: rehearsal dinner catamaran cruise taking off from Niki Beach there at the hotel and a welcome cocktail hour in the Palm Court. It all was spectacular and very hospitable. Enjoy!

 

http://maggiestolzberg.blogspot.com/search/label/Punta%20Cana%20Wedding

[maggiestolzberg]

Erica - I shot a wedding there in May and it really is the most beautiful resort in the D.R. I loved the resort, service and of course the wedding! Here are some photos from the rehearsal and wedding. Activities: rehearsal dinner catamaran cruise taking off from Niki Beach there at the hotel and a welcome cocktail hour in the Palm Court. It all was spectacular and very hospitable. Enjoy!

 

http://maggiestolzberg.blogspot.com/search/label/Punta%20Cana%20Wedding

[maggiestolzberg]

Erica - I shot a wedding there in May and it really is the most beautiful resort in the D.R. I loved the resort, service and of course the wedding! Here are some photos from the rehearsal and wedding. Activities: rehearsal dinner catamaran cruise taking off from Niki Beach there at the hotel and a welcome cocktail hour in the Palm Court. It all was spectacular and very hospitable. Enjoy!

 

http://maggiestolzberg.blogspot.com/search/label/Punta%20Cana%20Wedding

[maggiestolzberg]

Erica - I shot a wedding there in May and it really is the most beautiful resort in the D.R. I loved the resort, service and of course the wedding! Here are some photos from the rehearsal and wedding. Activities: rehearsal dinner catamaran cruise taking off from Niki Beach there at the hotel and a welcome cocktail hour in the Palm Court. It all was spectacular and very hospitable. Enjoy!

 

http://maggiestolzberg.blogspot.com/search/label/Punta%20Cana%20Wedding

[DP1andDP2]

Even though I have not had my wedding yet, I do recommend Paradisus. I just met with a friend that attended a wedding there and he raved about it!

 

In response to Ev. I just want to clarify my subjective experience with the folks in Miami. I was told that my original RP contact was no longer a Romance Planner and a new planner had taken over (for example the new planner is using the original RP's old email address). So there was a reshuffling of people that they called a "restructuring." That was out of the norm for them. As a constructive suggestion...I think there are too many people coordinating different things at Paradisus. I don't expect things to go smoothly while planning a wedding 3000 miles away, but I do expect some sort of streamlining of the process. I've talked to a few travel agents that plan destination weddings and they were surprised that Paradisus had me in contact with (1) Romance Planner (2) Groups TA (3) Event Planners in Punta Cana (who are absolutely wonderful by the way). In full disclosure we booked our wedding at two different resorts before we narrowed it down and with the other resort, which was not nearly as nice as PPR, there was once point person at the resort for everything. The process with the other resort seemed simpler and transparent. We cancelled that reservation and decided to go with PPR after reading other threads on PPR. I also want to mention that we have expressed these concerns to the folks in Miami--so I'm not just using this as a forum to vent

[EVKnowsitall]

Hey DP, I didn't mean my post in that way. I just meant to comfort brides who felt shuffled because that isn't how it was explained to me and there seemed to be a few concerned brides on this thread. Perhaps they dealt with you first and in sensing your frustration stopped calling is a restructuring and gave me the sugar coated version. You of course can use this forum to say what you want. I didn't mean to invalidate your concerns, just wanted to ease them.

[EVKnowsitall]

Hello Angel, Thanks for the well wishes and congrats to you as well. Don't be sorry for questions. I asked a ton and am sure I'll have more as well. Also- once you pick your resort don't be afraid to ask your coordinator. I bombard mine with questions all the time haha. She is very quick to respond. We chose July because we've actually been engaged since November 2011. We wanted a summer wedding because I'm a refer and I would be off from school, but summer 2012 was too short of a notice we felt- and not enough time for us to save up either. July is not any more expensive. In fact- I found the flights from NY to be their cheapest. My husband to be is Dominican and travels there and he knew which times to avoid. For example- Easter is Semana Santa and a huge celebration so End of March-April flights can be pricey . Also around Christmas, and end of August because families are traveling back from vacation to go back to school. We scheduled with that in mind. Like DP- we booked our desired dates with slight variations at multiple resorts. The only resort requiring a deposit was Paradisus. We left reservations at Majestic and Dreams because they held the date for two weeks without a payment while we compared the three properties. We had our own travel agent. Just made things easier when people wanted questions answered. We made business cards for her and sent them with our Save the dates. Our photographer is Phil Steingard. I wanted him from the moment we decided on DR but bc of the fee we almost went with Arrecife. Arrecife's website is outdated but when we went to thee FB we liked their pictures. They need to put the pictures from FB on their website- they are way more impressive. We were going to go with the Aqua package. We considered the Tailor made because it had the extra cocktail reception for guest but we figured we could save money by just making a reservation. It is after all an all inclusive and people paid a lot of money to be there lol I don't think we can justify spending extra for drinks and food. That package is costly and we would rather buy a less expensive package and add the DJ and dance floor and extras to the wedding. We considered Mexico as well because we stayed at Secrets and loved it. However, my fiancé went to visit his family in DR and they could not understand why we would have our wedding in Mexico and exclude them. Also, the flight was shorter to DR and people seemed less worried about traveling there. I say try something new! My fiancé is Dominicsn- born there but he has never been to Punta Cana haha. We are also thinking of having a small reception at home but it would before. The reason? We had already booked a DJ and a catering hall before we decided to do a destination wedding. Te DJ would not refund our $1,500 deposit. We figured- we already gave him half, might as well make him work. We are just doing open bar, salad, pasta, carving station, and hors d'ouevers with DJ. It will be the day we get legally married at the courthouse stateside. We are calling it a send off party. We are not telling anyone we are actually getting married that day- just that we are getting our license. We are getting married in the church in DR but the church said we could do a legal wedding in the states before we got to DR. It's easier than doing the paper work in DR, translating the documents, and waiting 3-6 months to have them shipped.

[EVKnowsitall]

Sorry ladies for all the typos! I usually reply from my phone and it's difficult to see! Haha I'm not a refer. I'm a teacher! :eek: