2014/2015 Excellence Punta Cana Brides?

[kellisbaby]

Any 2014 or 2015 Excellence Punta Cana brides out there?  I'm in the process of booking 1/12/15 and wondering if there are any other brides out there planning with me.

 

I'd especially love it if past brides could come back and tell us how their wedding/reception/honeymoon/DR trip was.

[JennelleRM]

Hi there,

 

My date is scheduled for 11/8/14!! So excited!

It was really a pain in the butt to reset my password, so I think there won't be a lot of responses from past brides who no longer need the site. 

[bethb731]

I hope you ladies are still checking this thread!!! I am hoping to book the date 12-13-14 but the wedding planner (Emy) said she cannot confirm my date until I book the room..... There are no flights available for these dates until closer to the end of January, so, I don't want to book my room and not have a flight to go with it.. but I also don't want to wait and end up booking the room/flight and then be told the date isn't available!!! that part is a bit frustrating! ive already been looking at all the photographer packages, although im somewhat confused... we are planning on going with the Excellence of Love package - and then the WP01 package which is 1 photographer, 1 hour, 24 digital files $450. I asked about this package, and person at Beach Wedding Studios said that they normally take 140-160 pics, which you don't get, but you can buy the disk - according to the A la carte photo list a CD with all pictures unedited - $1,500. Have any of you looked into the picture packages? I also was curious if you get to pick any certain colors for the wedding? My sister got married at Moon Palace in Cancun 2 years ago and they sent her a whole list of "packages" with different color schemes - maybe this comes with Excellence after you get your confirmation, but so far I've only received the photography info, wedding packages and wedding facts.

 

Hope you are still on this site! Id really like to bounce ideas and get information from both of you!

-Beth

[kellisbaby]

Nice, we have two other brides at the Excellence.  I'm happy to have someone else to compare notes with!  We just got our official wedding confirmation letter this week.  (OMG, it took forever... over a month.)

 

@@bethb731 - I'm not sure if this helps, but I booked our room block in advance of getting the confirmation letter of our wedding date/package. 

 

The photo pacakges for Beach Weddings Studio are expensive, so I am really considering just bringing someone from offsite.  HCD and Caribbean Emotions gave me excellent pricing.  So good, I could bring them in, pay the extra fees and get a lot more for the $$.  My travel agent is also looking into the possibility of flying someone in, putting them up for 3 nights at the hotel in lieu of them charging for pictures.  (Which would ROCK!)

 

I got a list of the bouquets, centerpieces, gazebo decorations, cakes and pricing that I'll be happy to send over to you if you want.

[JennelleRM]

Hi there,

 

I would really appreciate if you could send my your research on other photographers. I also found that Beach Weddings Studio was very expensive, especially since I don't want any prints. I just want to bring home a disc. I do wonder how that affects the prints and video included in the package though.

 

Also, I requested my info about a year ago and never got anything about cakes. Could you please send me everything you have? Then, if I have anything different I'll send it to you I'll put all spaces between so it does get 'captured'   j u s t j e n n e l l e 'at' a o l 

 

Thank you!

 

Beth, I also held rooms before I got my confirmation and before flights were published. I'm not sure where you are flying from, but I didn't have any issues with that. 12/13/14 is a cool date! My birthday is 12/12! My main color is navy blue because my engagement ring has sapphires and I just starting building off that I don;t intend on doing too much extra decorating though...

[kellisbaby]

@JennelleRM  Do you still need the photographer pricing I got for HDC and Caribbean Emotions?

 

I ended up going with PhotoPhil though.  He is not cheap, but his pictures are amazing.  And with all day coverage and the outside vendor fee, it's about the same as I'd pay for the resort photographer.  So I'm happy with my decision.  PhotoPhil acts as a day of coordinator as well, so that's a relief.  So far he has been SUPER helpful and very, very prompt in replying to my emails.  I mailed a depsit check TODAY!  WOOT!

 

I also ended up booking pastor Rick York at PhotoPhil's suggestion.  He said the resorts wedding ceremony is in Spanish and then yoru wedding coordinator translates in English.  Erm, no thanks.  Pastor York's fee's for 2015 were $400 but luckily Emy Rose said there is no day pass, or outside vendor fee for him.

[JennelleRM]

Hello, yes please, that would be great! Can you also please send info for photophil? I'm doing a symbolic ceremony, so I believe the coordinator just does the whole thing in English.

Also, how does having an outside photographer affect the photos included in the wedding package? @

[sbpopkin222]

I am getting married 7-12-14 at the EPC. I was wondering how the ceremony is when it is in Spanish and translated. I am also wondering the exact process of paperwork. I am really nervous about the paperwork. Any insight would be appreciated. 

[kellisbaby]

@sbpopkin222  are you doing a legal ceremony?  I'm doing symbolic, but apparently the ceremony is still in Spanish and translated back into English by the WC.  I'd rather just get Pastor York and cut out the Spanish.

 

Do your homework if you are doing a legal ceremony.  It seems a bit complicated with having to get documents translated into Spanish and notarized, and then translating back into English, etc.  It was just too much hassle, and I've read horror stories on here about brides not getting their wedding certificates.  I'm going the cheap/easy/fast route and doing a courthouse wedding before we leave.

[Julia Eskin]

Hello ladies,

 

We are a team of two wedding photographers based in Punta Cana and available for bookings for 2014/2015.

 

Feel free to e-mail me if you are still looking for a wedding photographer!