Dolcenotte12

Congratulations Boston Bride!! I'm so glad your wedding was everything you dreamed it would be! I knew you would love Excellence. I'm glad you got Mercy before she left, especially since you worked with her for so long. Looking forward to reading your full review. Michelle

Hi, are you referring to a slideshow done after your wedding by a photographer? The answer to that is yes, Photo Souvenir puts together an amazing slideshow, it is one of my favorite parts of our wedding package and my favorite thing to show people (besides my album). But if you are referring to playing a slideshow of you guys when you were babies and through the years, I'm sure they can play that if they have a TV available for travel. I'm sure it can be done. If you are having your reception indoors, I don't see why it can't be arranged. Good Luck.

outdoor girl, There are 3 photographers: Severine, Renaud, and Francisco.

Hello Tam, are you referring to the pricing of Photo Souvenir or the album? The Leather Craftsmen is an upgraded album choice. I think with the 2010 prices they put it in the package price. Take a look. 2010 packages Outdoor girl, I will try to take some pics of it this week..for now you can look at the 2010 photo souvenir packages...they show you what the albums will look like..or go straight to leather craftsmen's website Leather Craftsmen Inc. - Custom Bookbinding Photo Souvenir is flexible to make the book exactly how you want it...of course upgrades will cost extra, but overall I think it was a fair price for something that extraordinary. Let me know what you think of those samples!! LesandLynda, do you have one too?

I just received my leather craftsmen album from Photo Souvenir and Leather Craftsmen. It is beyond beautiful..words can not describe how my wedding memories were captured so amazingly. If anyone is using Photo Souvenir for their wedding, I would recommend looking into upgrading your album to a Leather Craftsmen. Everything is just beautiful from the design layout, durability of the album, leather cover, inset photo, size (mine is 12 x 12 but you can get smaller or larger) and workmanship (you can tell alot of time and effort goes into designing and binding these albums)..it is simply stunning!! My album has about 150 images and some are 3/4 panoramas. The album is done in a digital design format. If anyone has any questions about Photo Souvenir or this album, I would love to be of help!!! I just really love it so much! Wish I could share it with you guys, but its kinda big haha!! Thank you Severine for such a wonderful way to display your amazing work for the preservation of my wedding memories! Michelle

Hey Boston, the quality is great! Maybe you misunderstood my post.. I was saying I think its worth it to edit and not just keep it as is. I think this would apply to any video taping. If you keep it as is certain parts can be drawn out, have breaks in the taping effecting the flow of the music and the picture, and it wont be a "finished" product, much like if you only took pictures with the photographer and they didn't color correct them or something. See what I'm saying? The video of the ceremony UNEDITED is included in the package I had. It was $200 more to edit, but then we got the Excellence discount of $400 which was a happy surprise, so I see it as that discount paid for my video editing and my TTD!!! The video is great..the music is smooth now, certain parts fade in and out slowly, the color quality is good, no shaking of the camera, cute credits at the end and introduction to the resort at the beginning. We just had the ceremony taped, which was perfect as I'm not so into people taping me all day. I'd rather have pictures because that is what I look at most. We are planning on showing our gorgeous slideshow and ceremony video at our AHR in October. I definitely recommend doing the video with Photo Souvenir, just be sure to edit it!!!

Hi Lashawn, Here is the website of the painted pictures company: Welcome His email address is on his site. He is very nice and did an outstanding painted picture for us on 12 x 18 canvas. Everyone loves it. You do not need to go through Photo Souvenir to receive his services. I know for sure that he will do pictures you send to him in email and then he mails you your painting in a special protective tube. Go for it!! We love it! And yes, Jessi, I know for sure that Severine is away for a month, but I would think that her partner Renaud would be handling emails from time to time.

Why is he in THAT room and you are not LOL

I'm sure they will give you the $850 discount off the wedding package bec you have a decent amt of rooms booked and in particular the Imperial Suite, that should be reason enough right there! LOL Aww good luck!

There are many factors that influence your room placement. It definitely depends on the occupany of the resort at the time you will be there. If it is full, you might not get any upgrade. As Boston said as well the more rooms you occupy might make them want to give you an extra bump up. It may depend on if you are returning guest or not. It also depends on who checks you in if the wedding coordinator did not make prior arrangements. It also depends on which room you have booked already. It is good practice and very kind that they usually upgrade brides because it makes them feel very special. Boston, I don't know about getting the room free with a certain amt of rooms, definitely the $850 wedding cost gets deducted if you have rooms booked for over 7 nights and many guests. I would reconfirm that so you don't get disappointed and if its right, way to go!!! LOL Boston, I'm living through future Excellence bride's weddings as mine is over, but I do have beautiful memories!!

Keni, Yes as long as they have the flowers you want at the florist, they should be able to make you any bouquet you choose, you should definitely bring a picture of a bouquet you like and send it via email to your wedding coordinator and bring the picture with you. That is a simple flower arrangement, I'm sure they can handle that. Mexico, Orchids and calla lilies are sometimes not in top shape in DR so this is why they advise against it sometimes. My wedding planner promised me she would only make me this bouquet if the orchids were exquisite and they were. I couldn't imagine holding any other flowers. Sure after some time, the edges turned slightly brown in one area, but they stayed strong and never got limp. They looked stunning and they were huge orchids (the plastic looking ones lol).

Yes we had a videographer through Photo Souvenir. Arnando did our ceremony video. We chose not to get a video of anything else as we are not really into wedding videos so much. At first, I thought that we were not going to edit the video and just keep it as is, that is, until I saw it. It was funny and cute and all, but it would not have been good to show other people. The music from Domingo the sax player was not uniform in sound because Arnando would stop and start again at different times. And there were def some parts that were too boring. And we really wanted our grandparents to be able to feel like they were there, so we chose to get it edited ($200 extra) and well worth it. They add a little introduction to the resort and the video is seamless and the music is smooth and crisp (Domingo gave them his cd of the songs of he played at the wedding) and at the end, they have the credits of everyone in the wedding party. Our families loved watching it so much, they cried. However, in my opinion, the slideshow is really the best way for people to experience your wedding day as it goes from getting ready, ceremony, bridal/family pics, you and your husbands pics, reception, and Trash the dress pics. It is set to beautiful songs that you can pick for each part and has the most awesome technology. Check out the wedding slideshow samples on Photo Souvenir's website. Punta Cana Destination wedding photography The ceremony video is special in its own way because it really shows the moment you get married and you saying your vows, which people want to see if they were not able to make it. Also, for any of you that choose to get an album through Photo Souvenir, I highly recommend upgrading to the digital album. What a beautiful layout Leather Craftsmen (manufactured in US) and Severine (Photo Souvenir) created of the 150 images I selected (which was so hard to narrow down by the way with so many beautiful photos). I have not received it yet, probably in the next month it will come. I read that it takes 15 or more people to put together one leather craftsmen album!!! Compared to the Elite album (which costs extra anyway) the Leather Craftsmen takes the cake!!! Of course it always helps when you have such a nice person to work with, who is always available, and puts up with your indecision about certain things like Severine did!!! I highly recommend this book and will tell you more when I get it!! Michelle

Orchids are usually available but cost extra outside the package prices. I know, I had them for my bouquet, the moms' corsages and centerpieces and they were gorgeous!! The centerpieces were orchids submerged in water and held down by rocks in tall cylinder vases, simple and elegant!!! I would inquire about specific flowers/colors you are interested in and take it from there. They have most flower choices, the only one I came across that was unavailable in DR were the hydrangeas.

Crystal&Matt, I'm pretty sure you are referring to the Majestic Elegance after your comments about "Colonial". The Majestic has a separate thread on here as well. Hope this helps.

melwhip and natasha, what gorgeous pictures and wonderful memories. Natasha, are those pics taken from a professional album? The layout is hot. Melwhip, look at Natasha's link to get an idea of how leather craftsmen designs the albums, very much like that.

Melwhip, today I just got my preview of the finished album. It is sooooo gorgeous..I highly recommend getting this album. It is very expensive though depending on what size you get, type of leather, amount of pages, etc. The base price of $600 from Photo Souvenir is really a good deal, but I couldnt pick just 80 photos so I'm paying alot for the extra pages and have the max number of pages which is 50 sides (25 pages) ! I also upgraded to a 12 x 12 album which tacked on more money. Severine has been amazing throughout this process, though I'm sure she can't wait to be finished with me. lol. we are now at the point where i requested some image/layout changes to my album, Severine is going to change them herself, then the order will be placed. She is leaving for vacation the beginning of next week, so she is trying hard to have it ordered by then. She has been great with communicating with me and handling all my "changing my mind" moments, I must drive her crazyyyy!!!! I hear amazing things about Leather Craftsmen and my preview of my album was stunning, but it helps so much to have such a hardworking, patient, talented, and sweet person like Severine to help make it exactly how you want it!!!

Not a good idea, nsbride, mail service is very mixed up there. I hear sometimes they dont get their mail for months after the expected date of arrival. But if you think you really have to, go with UPS or FedEx.

Happy to be of help!! =)

He was a non-denominational minister and he conducted the ceremony while Ana translated.

Don't say that..then you will be sad its over like me!!!

Glad you had such an amazing experience and wedding..sounds as great as mine was..your pictures are very exciting to look at..you guys make a beautiful couple. I saw your review the other day on tripadvisor, mine just posted on there as well. Wishing you happiness always... Michelle

Snapfish: Share:Registration This is the link to some of TTD photos..hope you enjoy! I chose to wear a different dress (so glad I brought a backup dress with me) because my wedding dress was too tight and constrictive to have fun in the water and it really would have weighed me down! This one was lightweight and perfect for playing on the beach. You can see why I love Severine and Photo Souvenir

Hey I can help you with that as well. We booked 5 hrs with Severine, I think it was the gold package. We got sooo many pictures and proofs of all of them. She takes a nice mix of posed and candid shots and she likes to have fun and has a really good eye. She put together beautiful boxes with our proofs, all the pictures on cd, a gorgeous slideshow featuring all parts of the wedding and TTD(my fav thing to show people, its like having a moving digital photo album, everyone is amazed by it), a painted picture done by Miguel Pumarejo (which is stunning), an edited video (extra $200 for editing), and currently we have been talking back and forth about my digital album which Severine is working hard to complete and make it gorgeous (this is a lot of extra money and separate from my package price). She really works hard, is always pleasant, and is an outstanding photographer. I am so happy she was my photographer. My TTD session has quickly become some of my favorite pictures. I'll try to post a link to them in a bit. I talked with Fran on several occassions. He is such a cool guy and he did many of the photo shoots for our friends who wanted prof. pictures and they turned out so beautiful. The gold package was 1850 and we got a 400 discount for being at Excellence..which was exactly how much the TTD and the video editing cost.. so I feel like I got those for free because I didnt even realize we were getting that discount!! Severine was very prompt in getting things to us so quickly. She even forgot to add some pictures to our cd and mailed it immediately to me by UPS express. I see the packages cost a bit more than this year, but no surprise there. Everything is more money except our paychecks! 2010 packages

My wedding at Excellence was on a Sunday...same as any other day except your legal docs (if you choose to do it legally) will have to be taken care of the day before or day after. we did it the night before around 10 pm with the judge after our rehearsal dinner. Never heard of this no weddings on Sundays. We had the minister there and everything.

I would not have wanted a morning wedding for a few reasons: There is not much of a breeze in the morning and early afternoon, which is a lifesaver in such a hot location. And the sun will feel super strong, making everyone even hotter. There will be more people out n about in the morning hours that might get too close or end up being in your pictures. It is def more private later in the day I would think (depends on wedding location) The guests will kinda be left hanging, no? I guess not really because they can just change and hang out on the beach or whatever, but its a little strange to me. However, one positive is that the sun will be directly overhead and make the water as blue as can be for your pics and video!! Michelle