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Flyingchild, I think that the 70 person max is being factored in. I told my WC that I my DJ is bringing a dance floor and she didn't say anything except to make sure that the size of the dance floor is not too big.

I'm dong the garden gazebo for ceremony, pier for cocktail hour and seaside grill (indoor) for reception. Kinda like you! I don't know what it looks like either. Just praying for the best! My wedding is in like 45 days and I seriously don't know what I'm doing about a lot of things. I just ordered some fake flowers for bridesmaid bouquets (which is saving me $400) and I have to figure out what I'm doing about my centerpieces and and special gifts for guests/bridal party. So much to do, so little time!!

Hey Flying child, I didn't know that about the bonfire needing to be coupled with a rehearsal dinner. That will really suck if I can't do it. I only have the cocktail hour secured. I still haven't heard back from my WC Jenny about it. Hopefully they will allow me to do it considering the large size of my party??? Idk. When is your wedding date?

The promotion was for brides who booked by March (or around that time) 2013 and are having their weddings before the 3rd week of December. We also had to have 10 rooms booked with the hotel. When is your wedding date? I actually contacted DJ Mannia directly at [email protected].

Hi Steph! I actually found out that doing a welcome dinner will add about another $2k to my costs, which doesn't work for me. So what we are going to do is just have the welcome cocktail hour along with the bonfire. The welcome cocktail is free for us (for up to 50 people) because we took advantage of a promotion going on earlier this year. As far as DJ goes, I felt the same way you did: didn't want to be fiddling with an ipod and I really wanted to have a nice party. So I hired DJ Mannia. The base DJ service is about $900 if I remember correctly. A bit pricey, but having a fun, stree-free party is important for me. Hope this helps!

Hi ladies, My wedding is only 2 months away! I just got my final guest count (75) so now I'm pinning down details. For those of you who are interested in or have done a welcome dinner for your guests, how did this work? I would like to do a bon fire and floating lanterns after the dinner. Does anyone have any idea how much this costs and how this works out logistically? (Dinner inside first, then move to the beach?) I'm trying to envision it and I'm having a tough time. Thanks in advance!

I kind of agree with you, Jessica. I don't know if I had the same exact calculations, but I just know that when I did an item by item comparison on my spread sheet the costs were almost identical between the free wedding and the other packages for what I want in my wedding. It seems to basically boil down to whether or not you appreciate the extra perks listed in the packages. If you don't care for them, then I suggest going with the free package. But if you do like them, you're not losing to go with the paid-for packages either! It really boils down to what you want. I want to take advantage of the extra hotel money from 3G promotion so the only way I can qualify for the free package is to book an ocean front suite for 7 nights. That will cost me an extra $1,000 than I am spending right now on my hotel. Plus, I don't want to spend $2,000-$4,000 on an outside photographer/videographer. So I would personally prefer to pay the extra for the ultimate package and use the photography services included therein (the value is about $600). So my advice to your brides is to do your homework; crunch your numbers. There is no black and white answer to what is more or less expensive. You have to figure out what is valuable to you! Good luck planning ladies!

So which restaurant are you having your wedding at? Is there a cap on the amount of guests you can have if using this restaurant option? Just to clarify: You are paying a fee for the restaurant (for ex. $1,000 flat fee) and on top of that, you are paying $60-70 per guest. Or is it that you are just paying a $1,000 fee and this covers the food and service for all guests regardless of the guest count.

Thanks Jen and Jessica for your responses. I went ahead and booked the Ultimate Package. I actually just got my confirmation from Jenny!!! I'm so excited :-) I talked to my Fiance about the photo issue and he said it won't be a problem because both of his uncles own photography studios locally (one lives in Dominican Republic and the other one lives in Haiti). So they can capture whatever the hotel photographers don't. In terms of professional quality, he is allowing me to make up for that by splurging on engagement photos. So I'm happy again :-) We are expecting about 50 people so I'm sure we'll have to addo on a lot. I will probably be back on here with more questions. But again, thanks so much for your help so far! Stephanie

Hi Ladies!! I am a new bride. My tentative wedding date is December 14, 2013. My wedding planner is Jenny. Thank you all so much for sharing so much information with other brides. This website was instrumental in helping me finally pin down my wedding location. I am have opted to go with the ultimate package but I see that a lot of you have gone with the less expensive packages. Is it not worth it? I kind of wanted to do the least amount of planning possible. I am a lazy bride :-( But I don't want to be a foolish one. I looked on the Tropical Studio website and those pictures seemed to be really nice to me. Are they not an accurate representation of the the Hotel photography's work? Stephanie