Barcelo Bavaro Palace Deluxe -Like a dream in Paradise~~ love~hearts~toes~sand <3

[minigodiva]

Here's my wedding review of Barcelo Bavaro Palace Deluxe for those interested in this resort.  Highly recommended!   

we arrived on may 3 saturday and the wedding was on may 8 thurs. It was my first time in DR, so just a tip if it is yours too that there is a $10 USD per person tourist card fee that you have to pay at the airport before baggage claim. We let our guests know ahead of time bc they only take cash. just like what other brides said previously, if you don't have club premium (as we did not), check-in can take awhile, but the resort did a great job at trying to accommodate everyone asap. We booked a junior suite, so they automatically upgraded us to an oceanfront suite. The room was spacious and had a gorgeous view! We did have to wait for an hour bc they were cleaning the room, so they gave us our bracelets and we were able to eat at the buffet while we waited. Both buffets downstairs were closed so they directed us to a buffet at santa fe steakhouse. It was about 2:30 or so. The buffets do close around 11:30 or noon to clean up and maybe change food.

Anyway, monday morning was my meeting w/ Aris. She was my "fill-in" WC bc Ramona is on leave for recovery. Aris was really sweet. At our meeting though, her computer froze and would not print out anything, so we had to go back on Wednesday (the day before the wedding) to give her everything and let her know how to set up everything since we brought our own centerpiece. We had a travel themed wedding, so our invitations were passports, the centerpieces were wooden luggages with real touch flowers from hobby lobby and afloral.com. I made table numbers with maps from where I met or had memories with guests from each table and our favor/seat cards were luggage tags which my MoH made.

Our informal welcome party was originally at 5pm at Bar carey, but we went with some of our guests on a party boat/snorkeling excursion. They have two offices at the resort to book exursions: one is on main lobby vaccaciones barcelo and the other is downstairs in the corner that says guest services. So, we ended up eating at Strikers and meeting everyone there then afterwards went to Bar Carey to give guests their welcome bag, which had a welcome letter/ itinerary koozies from vistaprint, pepto bismol, advil, emergenC, first aid and cl solution/case, etc.

Our rehearsal dinner was supposed to be in a small banquet hall with a choice of a la carte restaurant food. we had chosen the La dolce Vita food, but Aris booked the Santa Fe Steakhouse, and it actually worked out to be better   We had 27 people and each guest was able to choose from the entire menu instead of just having one dish for all guests. We also had a private area. Aris did a great job suggesting a U-shaped table arrangement. Seriously, trust your WC. Eventhough I wanted the la dolce vita food for rehearsal, she showed me that the choice could be better and it was!

On the big day, my family, bridesmaids and I had breakfast at Hoyo 19. They have good food in general at Hoyo 19. Just don't be weirded out if their bagel is a burger bun with a partial hole on top. Do order it to see   It was still good, but maybe I'm just easy to please. Afterwards we went to U-spa to get hair and make-up done. we were scheduled at 11:00 am. Some bridesmaids only did hair and some only did make-up, so we were pretty quick. Again, bring pics or your pinterest ideas. Ibeliza? did a great job on copying the hair I wanted. The Groom and groomsmen had breakfast at the buffet and then got ready in our room. HDC Photography and videography came to take getting ready photos of the girls then they went to the guys. I highly recommend them. 

Ceremony was on the Pier at 3:00pm. It was good that they set up a ramp so that we didn't have to go up steps and we were all fine walking on a little sand in heels. Pastor York did a terrific job. He was enthusiastic and the guests loved him and the ceremony. I had my mother in law read one of the readings that Pastor York and we added a filipino tradition of coins, veil and cord. He is very accommodating with any traditions you might have for ceremony. At the end, we had a gift bag of donations for his school as well that some guests brought in. There were still some bystanders watching on the shore, but it didn't reallt bother me or anyone. It was still private bc we were at the end of the pier and they had a security guy by the shore, too.

We didn't have the formal cocktail hour. Our guests went to Bar Carey after a few pictures on the beach, and us and our bridal party took more photos. Aris met up with us at Bar Carey. All the guests enjoyed bar carey bc they can order whatever drink they want and they have some snacks like peanuts out and the cigar and rum place opens around 4 or 4:30 and had desserts that you can take to bar carey.

Our reception was at Bar Higuey at 6:00. Again, it didn't start right away because of the mishap with DJ Mannia. Anyway, we didn't let our guests know about any of that and just tried our beat to have fun, which we did   The cold fire was a good touch because it surprised everyone after our first dance. It actually even surprised me because I forgot. LOL. The food was great! we had caesar salad. the cheese bowl was so good and it had anchovies   then we had beef tenderloin with potatoes. i only was able to eat half and got up and the server took it away   i wanted to eat more of it. haha. then we had the creme brulee. We did put the chocolate initials on the dessert just to personalize it. I will show pictures once I figure out how. The cake was also good. We had 3 layers but we didn't eat all of it because everyone just wanted to dance. Our flavors were chocolate w/ strawberry, vanilla w/ strawberry and chocolate w/ guava. You can bring your own knife or they supply you with one. We extended our reception one more hour, which I thought was a better choice than spending it on cocktail hour. It was $236 for the dj then $15 per adult.

We headed back to palace deluxe around 10:15? and had an after party at Disco Bavaro, which opens at 11pm. When we got back to our room, they had flower petals on the bed and hot tub and had champagne and fruits.

My husband and i and our guests really enjoyed BBPD and even our guests who stayed at bavaro beach enjoyed their stay and the wedding. They kept saying it's the prettiest place to have a wedding and I think so too! There will be some things that may not go your way on your wedding, but keep positive and everything will turn out great   The other cons we had was the phone in our room was broken no matter how many times they said they would fix it, so I was glad we just bought the wi-fi. if you don't have club premium and want wifi, you buy it at the gudt shop downstairs. It's $45 for the week. Also, they never gave us our breakfast the morning after 

Oh well. Overall, I like BBPD. Your guests will have fun. Only 2 people had stomach issues out of the 57 guests and the food was actually good unlike what some tripadvisor reviews said. My fave was the kyoto restaurant. it was so entertaining. santa fe was good. la fuente was a little too salty for me. I heard mexico lindo was good but me and my husband didn't have time to eat there. 

I miss this place! There's so much to do, but so little time. We did salsa dancing in the afternoon by the beach, rode on pedal boats, banana boats, some friends did yoga on the beach, etc. Definitely recommend HDC for Photography and Videography and BBPD for weddings

[adrianaportela07]

@@minigodiva

Thank you for the review I'm so happy to hear that you had a great time. I feel more confident of booking Barcelo !! Just a few questions ? 1) which package did you get ? Was it enough for your 57 guests?

2) was the reception included ?

3) how much was the DJ if you don't mind me asking? Just wondering if it's worth to pay the extra fee .. Also from what time to what time did you use the reception room before going to the disco?

4) pictures - how did you like this service ? Was it an outside vendor or someone from the resort? Again how much did you pay. ?

 

Thank you so much for the help

 

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@@aquatracie

 

Thank you so much for sharing your review ! It was very helpful. You looked amazing! And it looks like everyone had fun!

Just wondering if you can answer some of my questions

1) which package did you get ?

2) was the reception included ?

3) how much was the DJ if you don't mind me asking? Just wondering if it's worth to pay the extra fee .. Also from what time to what time did you use the reception room before going to the disco?

4) pictures - how did you like this service ? Was it an outside vendor or someone from the resort? Again how much did you pay. ?

 

 

Thank you so much! I'm just looking for some feedback before booking the resort. I have a big invite list and most resorts are like 10-25 people ahgg

 

 

 

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