Dolcenotte12

Hello girls and congrats on your upcoming weddings...For those that are not familiar with me, I was married at Excellence in july 2009 (stayed 3 weeks) and have been there 4 times and returning this year as usual! =) Can you tell I love this place? Some tips for you: It is definitely not necessary to rent "special" chairs. I would say the plastic chair with a cover would probably actually look better than the "special" chairs they would provide at a cost. who knows what condition they would be in and that would bother me unless you are going to cover them and then whats the point? And because you are on a beach, the plastic chairs make a lot of sense!!! but i know some people have special preferences, but that is my opinion..i think you could use that money for better things that would actually be noticed. The ceremony is short anyway. I had my reception on the beach and they just pulled over the chairs they used for the ceremony and it looked absolutely perfect! Another thing: Gamc, what sort of vendors are you looking for? I would definitely say you must use what the wedding coordinators offer you as there is really no where else to find vendors in the area. Punta Cana is all farmland with no stores nearby, the closest strip of stores is at least 20 minutes away by car. If there is something unique you are interested in, tell your WC, and she can tell you if its a possibility or not. And on another note, PhotoSouvenir is an amazing photography company....I still look at my pictures frequently and I love them, they made me a beautiful leather bound digital album and a gorgeous slideshow...people tell me all the time what an amazing photographer I had..I also did a boudoir photo shoot this past July and once again PhotoSouvenir outdid themselves, with my help of course Any questions, let me know as I know alot about this place! I'll try to help as much as I can.

I love your slideshow...mine is done in the same style..that's a great program but it also needs a great photographer and beautiful bride to make it come to life!! awesome!!

I thought you pay for your wedding package based on the price/arrangements at time of booking, they can't just change things like that as they go along..that needs to be for the new brides only, not ones they have been working with for some time. It all depends on when these new arrangements were implemented. I would use that as my defense.

Nice shots mdb!! If I didn't tell you, congrats on your wedding!!! I have a few nice shots as well. This is the ceremony area and sometimes the beach looks like this. And this is the same area as seen from the walkway As you see, the beach is gorgeous!!!

I think that Excellence's beach is the most gorgeous beach of all my travels in the caribbean. It idoes not have white sand, more like golden in color. It is not calm water, there are aqua waves crashing to shore which may mix the sand around a bit in the water, making the shoreline look a bit murky at times. This beach has never had any seaweed, shells, or sea life any of the times I've been there. It's weird and I don't know its a good thing nature wise, but its great for pictures!! Depending on the time of day, the water will look bright turquoise or duller in color if the clouds are obscuring the sun. The beach is expansive and stretches for miles, making it less crowded and less likely to have strangers in your pics and in general when you are enjoying your trip. I've seen some brides from other resorts have people in the background that were not a part of the wedding. I don't know if that is the photographer's fault or if the beach is just packed. I think the beach is pristine and its surrounded by miles palm groves, making it look picture perfect. The fact that there is not another resort in sight makes it feel all the more private and special.

I should add that the presentation of the food at the reception and from what I was told about the cocktail hour was awesome! It was buffet style for the beach, but it looked so tropical and perfect! They carved fruit sculptures all around of doves and hearts, etc. Ana did a great job with the centerpieces, she did it all herself, I just told her what I wanted. She set up the memory table beautifully and the guest book area. And the ceremony went off without a hitch, great job with the planning there! Everything was just perfect! The music was great, we had Domingo the sax player for the ceremony and one hour during dinner at the reception. Then we had the Dominican band for 1 hr which brought out the limbo and conga line, which people liked. Then we had our own mix of music on cds with the special songs for first dance, entrance, special dances and cake cutting on a separate cd and they were labeled. She knew exactly when to play which song, it was great! Ahhh, what a perfect night. I just relived it!!

Oh thank you showtime, you are funny! LOL ...well I was so drunk that I fell asleep on the toilet that night..lmao. I also vaguely remember the cake cutting and then it supposedly started to rain around 11 after we cut the cake and people went back to the room because the evening was basically done, but I don't have a clue about any of that!!! LOL I stayed away from red wine, I had many many mamajuana shots and coco locos and whatever else people handed to me! LOL  Ok the spa is better to get ready in than the room, but it is warm, I am not going to lie. When I got in the horse and carriage I felt relieved that it felt cool outside because I thought it was as warm or warmer than the spa. Turns out it was the other way around which was good thing!! They were very accomodating in the spa, they gave us all a big room to get ready in after our hairdos were done. And I did my own makeup (worked for Chanel for many years) and used smashbox for my face (highly recommended), and chanel for eye, lip, and cheek color ( I always like chanel's colors, very rich color). I needed natural light so they brought one of those spa chairs to the second floor for me by the big skylight window for me to work with and then they brought up a stool so I can lay my mirror there and I sprawled out my makeup all over the place, what a scene but it worked and i felt comfy in that spot! LOL  My wedding was scheduled for 430 but it ended up occurring around 5-530 due to me taking pics in the spa. this worked out perfectly with timing for photos, cocktail hr and reception, although afterwards my hubby told me I left him sweating his ass off for a long time!! haha, oh well  Everything was extremely organized, no mishaps other than my dress being a tad too long when i walked down the aisle in the sand, causing some of the ruching to unfold and making me step on my dress constantly even when I wasn't in the sand. Ana came to the rescue with huge pins that she concealed when she pinned me. She rescued me lol. But planning wise everything was absolutely perfect!! We had 42 people and everyone loved the cocktail hour, they said the food was the most amazing there. We took some pics with family and bridal party and then they left for the cocktail hr and we took pics for a LONG time, but it was worth it!  The gazebo area is so lush and pretty so if you have a small group, that is perfect. But you know what it looks like already!!!  They look like they offer the Zookbook as the digital book..it looks similar to the Leather Craftsmen, however Leather Craftsmen is the top notch to go with. Ask Severine for the price difference between the two.  The boudoir session was amazing! I have such beautiful photos, wish I could share, but I will not do that on here, but they may be used as samples so you might see them through PhotoSouvenir lol. It is $590 I believe, pricey, but comes with an album as well. I think it is a 2 hr session. Mine was more like 6 hrs and served as their launch for boudoir photo shooting. She worked with Miguel Pumarejo ( who does the painted pictures and he has history with lingerie photo shooting), he took care of the lighting and some poses.it is studio lighting so it's a whole different style of photoshooting. It was much different than the wedding photography which used natural light. I knew both of them already and I was very comfortable. It was a very enlightening and empowering experience to do these photos! So glad I did it! The pictures are SICK!! We had a lot of laughs throughout the session while my poor hubby was in the pool all day, poor baby LOL I definitely recommend the boudoir shoot!  As you see, I like to write so keep shooting me questions if you want LOL

We had the 5 hr photo package, but i think it ended up being more like 8. I literally had over 1000 photos to look through. This was very hard to narrow down when choosing my album pics which was supposed to be about 80 pics and ended up being 150 pics!!! LOL Â Â I love love love Severine..she is one of the sweetest people I have ever met! And she is awesome at what she does, it is really her life and she is perfectionist!! I've done several photo shoots over the years with her, the last being a boudoir shoot for my hubby for our 1 year anniversary this past July! The pictures just blew me away!! Â I think the 5 hr package is more than enough and she/he will take tons of pics, but what you really want to make sure you get is a fab album that will last forever. My wedding album is from Leather Craftsmen and it is the most stunning creation ever. Severine ordered my wedding album as a sample at Excellence, so you will all see it if you look!! it is divine!! It was costly to upgrade, but so worth it. It is a flushmount digital album. Severine did an amazing job with the layout and would not order it until I felt the layout was perfect! I had my album in my hands less than 2 months after the wedding. Check it out at Excellence!! I'm so happy I am there everyday!! LOL Â In our package, we had prints of all our proofs, the painted picture by miguel pumarejo..simply stunning, (he is a VERY talented man), a slideshow that blew away a guy that works in TV production (saying he's never seen this new technology yet and he was surprised they had it in DR) , and I think the wedding video, just the ceremony, was included in the wedding package through Excellence, but we paid to have it edited. It made it much nicer. Â So I would def say invest in a good album, and either 5hr or 8hr package is perfect. I don't know what you mean when you say the digital package? what is that?

glad you enjoyed looking at them!!!

Hey Showtime, we are the 4th timer crew on this forum I guess!! definitely says something about the resort!!! I'd like to chime in on a few things. I had my reception on the beach and we had absolutely no critters of any kind that night, but as showtime pointed out if it is humid there is definitely a chance of critters around if you plan to have your reception outside! I was lucky enough to have cool breezy weather the night of my wedding! Everyone loved the wedding and the reception! They said it was unlike any other wedding they've ever been to!! Â The Agave restaurant by the fountain and open roof sky is what I would have liked if I had to have an "indoor" wedding. However the chance of rain still interferes with that location as the whole roof is open and does not close..the party would have to retreat to the perimeter of the restaurant to stay dry. But oh is it beautiful with the palms hanging over and the starlit sky..ahhh. But the problem is no one is guaranteed that location until it gets closer to your date and the wedding planners find that restaurant happens to be closed that night. Then you can use it. But if you have a small group, I'm sure you could have it there on any night, but it would not be private. They do not close restaurants for weddings. Wedding receptions may be held in the closed restaurants of the evening. Â I would also say the Lobster House is another great location. It is open air on the sides with a thatched roof. It is nice because the breeze from the ocean comes through and it is ultra close to the beach, pretty much right next to it. It also has a veranda area that is completely outdoors that is considered a part of the restaurant. I had my cocktail hr in this part of the restaurant. It is separated by a walkway from the restaurant. The nice part about the Lobster House is that you still keep that tropical feel because you are right near the beach, but dont have to worry about the sand or dancing etc. The same rules apply for the closing of the restaurants. Â I always loved the cascade pool area. The rooms are in a more private location, it is very lush and romantic there. If you opt into the club I really like the swim ups in building 11 and nice views there too! I agree with showtime about the swim up bar, it is the piss pool for sure!! No one ever gets out!!! LOL I don't like all the rowdiness there also. we create our own rowdiness here and there if we meet people but over there its a constant thing! And for a couples resort, we've witnessed some crazy stuff going on over there and some of the craziness was from our own wedding group, the things some people do..I'll leave it at that! LOL Â I love the club, but that's just me. I love the extra service you get on the beach. I love the club lounge. I like having the internet access and an escape from the sun/heat besides my room and having a cold drink in the coolest (weather wise) place on the resort. Regular rooms supposedly have a tube tv, the club rooms have plasmas and upgraded toiletries, Bvlgari, ohhh I am obsessed with their products now! LOL luxury is right! You get about 3 or 4 bottles of top shelf liquor for your disposal. I usually take them home. If you do not like the selection, we ask for something else. All the bottles they have are displayed in the club so you can pick what you would rather have. Otherwise the layout is the same. If you are getting married and have a little money to splurge, its worth it to upgrade to the club, at least for your honeymoon. it's nice to treat yourself to the best of things sometimes! Now that I have been clubbed, I can't go back!! Â Sidenote: Drink service at the bar SOL is top notch. It's like having a swim up bar without the bar in the pool because the bar is like 10 feet away. I have not seen service like that anywhere else on the resort. Constant drinks flowing and no getting out of the pool! The cascade area differs in this way. You have to get in and out usually to get a drink. Ohhhh the woes of life!! Haha I am so spoiled there its not even funny! Â As for the moldy smell, enjoy it, because you will miss it when you come home and your clothes have that faint tropical smell still on them. It brings your memories to life and you will ache to return! All I can say!!

MrsBeatty, congratulations on your amazing wedding and I'm so glad to hear you had an awesome time! Great photos too, Arturo is such a nice guy, he's a cutie!!! Â My wedding was on the beach as well, but we did not have the deck area as that was not built until after my wedding. The beach reception was a wild time, everyone loved it! No one complained of bug bites and I did not get a single bite and I get eaten alive, no buggies out the night of my wedding, they knew better! LOL Â A side note about the transportation services - You do not need to go through that stupid orientation, Like Beatty said, it is to get you to buy excursions, it is not a resort orientation, they just make it seem that way. Every time we go to Excellence, we just get our return slip the day before I leave from the transportation company's booth. It is a nuisance and I always prefer to avoid it. If I am interested in an excursion, I go to the booth when I'm good and ready. Â Also, as for the Excellence club, it is definitely not necessary and if you don't have it, you won't even realize you are missing out on anything. Because in truth, you get everything you need and then some with the regular rooms. The club just takes everything to a higher level, but if you need to save somewhere, that would be the thing to not opt into. I personally love the club and all the perks that go along with it, but its up to you to decide. If you get it on a sale and its not that much more expensive than the equivalent in the regular rooms, it is definitely worth it and I would say go for it. Â Congrats again, Mrs.Beatty!!!

Hello everyone, I am a frequent visitor of the dominican republic section on here and I got married there last July...I was wondering if any of you would be kind enough to vote for me on facebook so I can win this contest! I would win 100 dollars in Kindle merchandise if I get the most votes or "likes." Here are the instructions:  I think you have to be logged into facebook to vote.  Go to this site on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/medgeaccessories  then like the page  Then go to http://www.facebook.com/medgeaccessories#!/album.php?aid=196140&id=190018231946&ref=mf  and like my pictures which are pictures 13-19, 26 and 27!  Thanks for all your help!! I really do appreciate it!!

The simple act of meeting and speaking with your wedding coordinator will give you an idea of how smooth the planning process and wedding will go. To me, the most important aspect of your wedding planning is your communication with your wedding planner. Does she take the time to listen to you? Is she friendly and warm? Does she speak decent English so you can correspond through the internet? Ask: How many weddings do they do a day? Look at flower, cake, and wedding/reception choices and locations. check out the spa to see if they do a good job with hair/nails/makeup! Of course when you are there, try to find out when they are having weddings and check them out from a distance!!

I had my wedding and reception on the beach!! Beautiful and the reason I got married there!! The cascade pool is also nice or to keep things simple, a private restaurant or sectioned off part of the restaurant depending on how many people you have and if you are willing to spend more to have it private!

Thanks ladies for your compliments! Â Fmichelle...Photosouvenir is situated at Excellence, but they serve the entire Punta Cana area. They are not just for Excellence. If you happen to stay at excellence you get the perk of not having to pay a day pass for your photographer to be allowed in and get some small inclusions in your wedding package. I can tell you from my experience with Photosouvenir on 4 separate occasions that they are a professional, talented company, and they truly love what they do! I had a photo shoot done with my husband (then boyfriend) in 2007 with them, then our wedding pics, trash the dress, and just this past july an amazing boudoir photo shoot! Severine (one of the owners) is an outstanding, warm, passionate photographer!! Â Even though you may be at Excellence, your photo package is not included because as I said they aren't there just to serve Excellence, but Excellence sure is lucky to have them there!. Here is the 2011 price info... I think they deduct a few hundred if you are at Excellence. Â http://2011photopackages.wordpress.com/ Â Â We had a package that included 5 hrs photography, ceremony video, trash the dress, wedding painting, proofs in box, a 15 minute slideshow ( gorgeous!), an amazing album (upgraded to a leather craftsmen album and it was so worth it, it is actually sitting at PhotoSouvenir's booth at Excellence as we speak as a sample, it is THAT beautiful!) They put everything together for you quickly and beautifully!! I never regretted my wedding location choice or photographer for a second!! To be honest, I don't recall how much, but I would say around 2600-3000 dollars!! That was the bulk of my wedding cost (which wasn't so much) but memories are the most important part to splurge on!! The album alone was a 1000 dollar upgrade, but extremely worth it!! Â Hzak, Â The girls at the spa do an amazing job with hair!! They did my hair again this past July for my boudoir shoot and it came out amazing!! The orchid was real and matched my bouquet. The guy's shirts are cubavera from macys. Very cheap!! So were the pants!!

Also, my reception was on the beach too and we used X Lounge bar for drinks, which sits directly on the sand. Cafe Kafe is situated right next to the beach in the main plaza. Mdb, I used Photo Souvenir's videographer just for the ceremony portion w. no additional video after that. It was worth it because the ceremony had some funny moments and I'm glad they were recorded..memories forever! In terms of quality, they did a fine job, they used music i selected for certain parts, had credits at the end and an intro to the resort at the beginning. My family that did not come certainly loved and appreciated being able to see it live.

Are you sure you are talking about Excellence Punta Cana? There is no Sea and Sea bar. Maybe you mean Cafe Kafe (notice the c's) but never the other name. Last year I got married in July and there was no extra charge for liquor so I doubt last May was much different. Be sure you are looking into the correct resort!!!

I just copied and pasted from an earlier post of mine: We made welcome bags for our guests that Ana handed out at the rehearsal dinner. We didn't give beach tote bags because our guests were all in the club so they got one in the room, but I think it is a great idea if you are booking regular rooms because that is something a lot of people won't think to bring with them. We had clear bag monogrammed with our names and date in our wedding colors and stuffed them with monogrammed frisbees (loved this), oriental trading battery operated fans, spanish phrasebooks (from amazon), Bliss Skincare travel set, bug repellant packets, bath and body works mini-antibacterial gel, a dominican republic magnet, and a dominican republic natural plant photo album (the last two from Nancy's shop near Excellence) We packed them the day of the rehearsal dinner and Ana came to pick them up. The travel skin care sets were heavy, but the frisbees do take up a decent amt of room but weigh very little which is nice. I bet alot of people couldn't care less about the bags, but I'm sure some did! lol If you don't want to make or bring bags due to restricted luggage space, you can offer the female guests a complimentary manicure at the spa (pretty much equals the price of one finished welcome bag).

what do you mean by badges? There is no bracelet or badge worn by any guests on the property. Most resorts do make the guests wear wear a plastic bracelet to show they are from that resort. Excellence does not because it does not have a resort right next to it or near it for that matter! The closest resort is Sirenis which (to me) was a hell of a walk and Zoetry Agua (which is about the same distance) but walking in that direction is so uncomfortable because that area is like walking in quicksand.

Debbie and Diva, the club and bar are in Bavaro about 45 minutes from the resort. I don't know where exactly since we went with Ana and Roberto (club manager) and now Ana's hubby! I would definitely go to these places again. I wish I would have known about them before all our guests left because the single guys would have loved it since Excellence is more coupley most of the time lol! I know that the tour desks actually have Imagine as a spot to see..I think they have a bus that drops people off at a certain time and then picks up them at 4 am. Long night partying lol. I heard you can also cab it (ask the front desk) and the guy will wait for you for a very cheap price, around 70-90 for the whole night.

Diva, to be honest you are not going to see much if you are walking out the front gates of Excellence except a bar/whorehouse to the right and Excellence's living quarters lol. There are no shops or activities anywhere near there on the roads outside Excellence. However, to the left and right of the resort on the beach (literally there is like some imaginary line where Excellence's property ends) there are a cluster of shops. Personally, if I were you I would go straight to Nancy. Her hut's sign is visible even before you leave the property on the sand. She is the first hard left when facing the water. She does not haggle with you, gives you fair prices, can get you anything you need like drug store supplies that they sell for a billion dollars on the resort.I've known her for years and she even came to the wedding ceremony and reception. She really partied it up! LOL she even gave me 25 large natural DR photo albums for free as a wedding gift(that sell for 15-20 bucks a piece in the gift shops) because I was shopping there for welcome bag goodies. So if you go to her, tell her Michelle sends her love!! This would be best for souvenirs but she can get you anything you want if you ask her. And hunnie, fresh fruit is all over that resort! LOL I actually went to Higuey..they have a huge fruit market there and alot of headless chickens and slabs of hanging beef if you are interested! LOL I would love to recommend an awesome club and bar we went to during our last trip. We went to the bar Photobar (not fotobar as you would think it would be) The bar is pretty much on the beach, instead of bar stools, there are swings. There are bean bags and tables in the sand. They have live music at night. Loved it! We also went to Club Imagine. This club is a cave and from the outside looks like a huge castle. Inside there are REAL bats flying overhead. They are not in the main club area where the music is though. I doubt they like all the booming. The ambiance is so cool. I definitely recommend this place. You can ask the tour booth or look for Edwin (cool dude)at the front desk and ask him about these places. I would recommend taking a trip (its long, about an hour and a half away) to Boca de Yuma. It was so beautiful there. we went there for a few hours with the executive chef. it is one of his favorite places nearby. it is a small fishing village that has a backdrop of cliffs overlooking water and it is just breathtaking. Good food too! Hitched, We secured about 14 rooms to start with through our travel agent. i don't think the resort will do that for you, not sure. he was so good, he contacted us when the rates dropped and my guests saved a ton of money. he also made sure to help us get the cheapest rate and he matched it so even if people booked later than expected, they did not pay a ridiculous amt. I definitely recommend using a travel agent. Mine was amazing, just try to go with a good agent. Here are some pics: Nancy and her hubby (now you will recognize her lol) : Snapfish: Share Photo:Registration Look out for Edwin, he's good people: Snapfish: Share Photo:Registration The famous Ana Luisa and I swinging at Photobar lol : Snapfish: Share Photo:Registration View from the bar: Snapfish: Share Photo:Registration Entrance to Club Imagine: Snapfish: Share Photo:Registration Caves in the club: Snapfish: Share Photo:Registration Boca de Yuma: Snapfish: Share Photo:Registration Oh can't wait to go back!!

Hey Diva, we did not have a DJ and I could not imagine partying any harder than we did ha ha. We had Domingo on the saxophone for one hour during dinner, one hour Dominican band which got everybody up and then the other 2 hours were our cds of a good mix of island tunes, house/club music and sappy love songs (not too many) . Ana played our wedding song as soon as we walked into the reception after taking lots of photos and danced right then and there. We also had specific songs for me to dance with my brother and father in law and for my husband to dance to with his mother. I put all the special songs on a separate cd so it was easy for Ana to access.

I did bring a second dress just in case my other dress didn't work out for whatever reason or if I felt too hot in my original dress, I would have changed into it for the reception. I had my ttd dress cleaned and its fine except for some parts of the bottom stayed brown, like the very bottom edges. But if I got it cleaned again, I bet that would come out too.

Thank you Diva =) You should definitely do the trash the dress. It's such a weird, once in a lifetime experience lol to be in the water with clothes on, let alone a wedding dress! hahaha, its fun to frolic in the sand and water! If you are at Excellence, you don't need to make a deposit. Contact them as soon as possible to reserve your date because they do fill up quickly, but I think they make more availability for Excellence brides anyway. Severine's email is: [email protected] I did not bring my centerpieces, I did not want to drag anymore stuff than I was already (welcome bag items took up so much room, plus we packed for a 3 week trip, yikes!). Ana supplied everything and I think they were 40 dollars a piece. I showed her what I liked through pictures and then she showed me what she had available or what she can get her hands on and voila, that's how the centerpieces were decided. I loved them, the perfect touch!

Diva, we selected a package from Photosouvenir for the weddings. Packages are here: 2010 packages Here is their website with photos: Punta Cana Destination wedding photography They actually deduct about a few hundred dollars if you are married at Excellence since the wedding packages include some photography like you said (I think it depends which wedding package you select too). The package we had was 5 hrs(but she definitely stayed longer), included getting ready through most of the reception. The package included the ceremony video (I think thats included in the wedding package), a beautiful slideshow of all parts of the day(very advanced technology and visually stunning), a 12 x 18 painted picture on canvas by Miguel Pumarejo(absolutely beautiful), Welcome all proofs in boxes, and trash the dress. I think our package was about 1400 dollars in all. This is pennies compared to what some people pay in the states for a good photographer. We upgraded our album to leather craftsmen which I highly recommend. This is the top of the line album company in the US. Severine designed the pages digitally, sent them to leather craftsmen, and the book was sent to me and is so gorgeous. What a way to preserve and share memories!! I had nothing but an amazing experience with PhotoSouvenir and Severine. Not only do they excel at what they do, they are so sweet to work with! They provide all your items in a timely manner and you will be stunned by their work! I know I posted my pics previously but I'll put them here again: Wedding: Snapfish: Share:Registration Trash the dress: Snapfish: Share:Registration