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Hi Amygirl! My fiance and I are still processing all the information that we got, it was a lot to take in over the week! I was really hoping that we would walk into 1 of the 2 resorts and just KNOW that that's where we wanted to get married. Unfortunatley (or fortunately, I guess) both resorts are pretty amazing, so it wasn't dead obvious to us which one we want to go with. It's coming down to a (really long) list of pros and cons. As I've said, both resorts are great, but there are trade-offs with both. For example, I like the gazebo and beach ceremony sites better at Dreams Palm Beach, but the reception sites better at Dreams Punta Cana. Dreams Palm Beach is a more luxurious, relaxing, pampering, smaller sort of resort, where I would probably prefer to spend a week, but Dreams Punta Cana is bigger, and seemed to us to be more of a party type of place, which might be good depending on how many people end up coming to the wedding. Granted, we were only at Dreams Punta Cana for about 3 hours, but from what I saw, the beach is far better at Dreams Palm Beach, much whiter sand and longer. But I really love the lazy river lay out of the Dreams Punta Cana pool. Sorry for the fence-sitting answer, but as you can see, we've got our work cut out for us in our decision making! If there are any other questions you have, don't hesitate to ask! :0)

Ola everyone! Hope everyone's planning is going well! So we just returned last night from our planning trip to Dreams Palm Beach, with a day trip to Dreams Punta Cana. It was a wonderful week, and we have lots of information, so if anyone wants to ask anything in particular, feel free! Princess, when we were there, the beach bon fire was Saturday night, but their schedule may change by next year, so I would just keep in contact with the coordinator when you're planning!

Erinsny, that's wonderful!!! Congratulations, that's so exciting! Keep us posted on your planning process. :0) I'm in the same boat, Vallarta! I'm terrified that all the dates will be gone, and I will be too late to book one, AFTER I fall in love with a resort! I'm a bit more worried if we go with Dreams Punta Cana, because I think it is better known, and more popular for weddings because of that. Hopefully everything works out for us all though, especially if we end up going through Palm Beach!

Success! The e-mail he has used is: [email protected]. Hope this helps! :0) Vallarta, I notice you're from Ottawa, like yours truly! Do you have a date in mind yet

Thanks for the well wishes, and lots of pictures won't be a problem! :0) The good news is there's a wedding at Dreams Palm Beach the day we meet with the wedding coordinator, so I'm going to be a spectator at that! It's only the bride and groom, but I'm hoping to see how the ceremony goes. My fiance has been in contact with the wedding coordinator at Palm Beach several times, and has had no issue. She gets back to him the same day or the next day, whereas we've found we've been waiting up to a week for the Dreams Punta Cana wedding coordinator's response. I know they are both super busy right now, as they were accomodating a lot of the weddings that were scheduled at the Dreams resorts in Mexico, but it seems that DPB is a little more efficient at getting back to us. Is it Melani Mena that you've been trying to contact? I will try to get in touch with my fiance today and get the contact e-mail address we used.

Hey Ladies! Great to see all the interest in Dreams Palm Beach, and looking forward to hearing any information you all have on this resort! I leave Saturday for our planning trip, EEEE!!! I'm so excited!!! I will be sure to update you all on my experience, and like I said, if I can figure out how, I'll post some photos (I take gazillions of photos, so I'll try to stick to the best ones only!). We are staying at Dreams Palm Beach for the week, but heading to Dreams Punta Cana for one day, just to meet with their wedding coordinator and see their ceremony/reception sites. I'm really looking forward to the trip!

Well I'm glad to see some other people interested in Dreams Palm Beach! Let's pool any information we get regarding Dreams Palm Beach, since there isn't a lot out there! As I said, I will post a review of the resort after I go in June. I'm really hoping I love it, since it's only 10 minutes from the airport! :0)

Hi! I got engaged in February, and we are having our engagement party next weekend. My parents have a trailer in a campground that they use all summer, and so we had the idea to rent the pavilion at the campground (only $80) for the party. The bridesmaids are taking care of the appetizers, while my Dad cooks up a couple of roasts which we're going to serve on buns. It's BYOB, so we didn't have to worry about cash bar vs. paying for a bar, getting liquor license, and all that stuff. It's just a low key BBQ/camping fest, which is totally US. The great thing is, there's lots of space, so our wedding party have organized some games, and people can rent a site and pitch a tent for $20 as opposed to spending more to stay in a hotel room, if they are coming from far away. In terms of when you have it or who throws it, I don't really think it matters. Tradition would probably state that the bride's parents host, and I'm sure there's some traditional time frames of when it should be held, but I'm not too worried about that. It's basically a chance for the families to get to know each other, and for our friends to have a little fun too! :0)

Hey everyone! Well Dreams Palm Beach was formerly Sunscape Punta Cana. They just changed over in December of 2008, so I'm sure that's why there's not much information, but if anyone knows anything about it, please post! From what I've heard/seen, the Dreams resorts are cheaper than the Majestic (though the Majestic is beautiful), but also, Dreams Palm Beach appears to be cheaper than Dreams Punta Cana. Anyway, I'm heading there mid-June, so I will add some information and photos (if I can figure out how! :0P) when I get back!

Hey everyone! So my fiance and I are basically deciding between the 2 Dreams resorts in Punta Cana. I see a lot of posts on Dreams Punta Cana, but not much on Dreams Palm Beach. Just wondering if anyone has been there, or had there wedding their, and what they thought? We're going on a planning trip in June to see both, but it would be great to hear it from any of you! Any information would be great! :0) Thanks! Tara

Congratulations and best wishes for your wedding this Saturday, JAXLL! I hope all goes as planned, and that you have beautiful weather! Did you have a positive experience during the planning process with the wedding planner? I'm considering Dreams PC for my wedding next April, so any reviews or tips you can provide me with would be greatly appreciated! To the brides who were supposed to get married in Mexico, I feel for you big time! :0S It must be so frustrating to have all the planning get nixed at the last minute! But hopefully planning and changes go smoothly, and you have wonderful weddings in Dominican. You both seem to be pretty upbeat about the whole thing, so I hope everything goes well for you both! Tara

If you don't mind me asking, was there a huge difference in price between the Dreams and the Riu? And why was Palm Beach not what you wanted? We have narrowed our choices down to Dreams Punta Cana and Dreams Palm Beach based on package prices, and are taking a planning trip in July to choose between the due. Any information you could give me, positive or negative, regarding Palm Beach would be really appreciated. :0)

Hi all! :0) An engagement party is being held for us at the beginning of June, and I am already anxious about what to get the hosts as gifts (buying presents always causes me angst!) Our 2 best men, my maid of honour, and my parents are all "hosts," and the rest of the wedding party will be helping out, I believe. I'm looking for something creative but inexpensive (I'll probably splurge more for the actual wedding party gifts to be given at the rehearsal). I've read about spa certificates but that's not really my Mom's "thing," same goes for wine, and since Mother's Day is coming up and I'll be getting her flowers for that, I don't want to do flowers again a month later. I'll probably just send thank you cards to the rest of the groomsmen/bridesmaids, party, but if anyone has any ideas to share for gifts for the 5 hosts, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance! Tara

Hi guys, Probably stupid questions, but I'm going with the philosophy that the only stupid questions are ones that aren't asked, to make me feel better. ;0) If you have your reception at one of the restaurants, do you get to have a dance as well, and if so, where? Also, are there other guests dining in your reception location (ie if you have your reception at Himitsu or El Patio, are there other guests eating at the same time?). Finally, can you have your reception in/around the gazebo, even if you're having a beach ceremony? Thanks in advance! Tara

Dreamy, that sounds like great process! Sounds like things are falling into place. :0) What resort did you end up with? We have pretty well narrowed down our selection to 3, and after our visit to these resorts in July, we will hopefully decide our final location, and get the ball really rolling.

Nope, definitely not the only one, it's good to hear that other people are stresing out, like me! I don't know what resort I want either, and because a main determining factor is the price my guests will have to pay, I have to keep waiting for rates to become released to even narrow it down. I have a list of about 6, but we want to visit our top 3choices in July, so we have some major research to do! Our top 3, at this point, are the 3 Dreams resorts, but we're open to pretty much anything! We like Dreams simply because we just visited Secrets Maroma in Mexico for a week, and were amazed at how great everything was, and Dreams is the same company. Keep us updated on your thoughts

Hi Dreamy101, I totally hear you on feeling overwhelmed! There are so many decisions to make, and I feel like none of the really big decisions can be made straight away, because we have to wait for rates to be released, then visit the resorts, THEN decide. It's just hard when all the wedding books tell you to have most of this stuff done a year in advance! I'm just stocking up on information (which may be a bad thing, I'm noticing that there are TOO many options!), and I'm trying to focus on the smaller things. Details like wedding party, clothing, favours. Not that I'm making those decisions for sure, but they are small things to tide me over until the bigger, more stressful decisions need to be made. Hope things are going better for you now than they were earlier in the month. :0)

Hi ladies! My fiance actually took me to Secrets Maroma Beach on Valentine's Day just for the day to propose. We were at the resort a total of about 6 hours, less time than we spent in the car and on the plane for travel! But from what I saw, the place is UNBELIEVABLE. We are headed back there tomorrow for a week's vacation, and though I'm planning a Dominican wedding due to costs, I'm very much hoping to get a glimpse of a wedding ceremony there! Happy planning!

Thank you so much BeachyIrishBride! I will definitely keep you in mind for any further planning, since you are based in the O-Dot, like me. :0) So are you booking your flights, and then also booking nights with the resort, separately, instead of a pre-packaged vacation? Are you doing a week-long vacation, or are you just doing 4 days or something? Do you have to arrange your own transfers from the airport to the hotel then? Again, any further information is greatly appreciated. I feel like no big decisions can be made until prices get released!! :0S

Hi everyone! Although I am looking at April 2010, I was just reading some of the posts here, and since I'm recently engaged and newly planning a destination wedding, I am quite confused! When I started planning, I thought the sequence of events would be this: Find out package prices for resorts, narrow down list of resorts, visit resorts, choose resort, book your group, THEN book your wedding date with the resort. I'm just confused because I see that many of you have booked your wedding date with the resort, and I don't think the package prices for spring 2010 have been released yet? Because the price that my guests have to pay will play a MAJOR part in what resort I eventually book, I'm just wondering what everyone else is doing? Are you booking the wedding, then just crossing your fingers and hoping rates don't sky-rocket by the time the package prices are released? As I've said, I'm new to this, quite confused, and hope that you guys can give me some insight! Thanks and happy planning! :0) PS - Why am I listed as "Lurker" when I post on here? I did sign up to the site!!!!

Hi everyone! Although I am looking at April 2010, I was just reading some of the posts here, and since I'm recently engaged and newly planning a destination wedding, I am quite confused! When I started planning, I thought the sequence of events would be this: Find out package prices for resorts, narrow down list of resorts, visit resorts, choose resort, book your group, THEN book your wedding date with the resort. I'm just confused because I see that many of you have booked your wedding date with the resort, and I don't think the package prices for spring 2010 have been released yet? Because the price that my guests have to pay will play a MAJOR part in what resort I eventually book, I'm just wondering what everyone else is doing? Are you booking the wedding, then just crossing your fingers and hoping rates don't sky-rocket by the time the package prices are released? As I've said, I'm new to this, quite confused, and hope that you guys can give me some insight! Thanks and happy planning! :0)