I was married at the Bavaro Princess at the end of January... Don't get your hopes up to high.
Nothing was terrible but they are very poorly organized and it reflects in the level of service they provide.
We ordered the "Princess Package" and requested to have the ceremony on the beach. Despite the On-lookers which for the most part are controlled by resort staff, the beach was far and away better than the gazebo choice. There was another wedding down there at the same time and members of their group directly told me the bridge and groom wished they had chosen the beach. The gazebo is NOT intimate, unless you have a total of four people. The bridge and groom are raised way above the audience and are really all that close. Trolly's around the resort are continusly driving past the ceremony site and are loud and serve as a huge distraction. THe beach has the natrual beauty and simple set-up that I do no regret for a second. Only in a few shots did we have anything un-slightly and out of over 300 photos that's not bad.
We upgraded to the private-beach party. This was a bit of a dissapointment. If you are going to do it, you better pray it doesn't rain. I understand there has to be a rain alternative but at this resort it SUCKS! it's a small banquet hall with old carpet terrible decorations and was the worst part of our day. I almost cried when I found out exactly where it was, but they didn't tell us we had to move there until 2 hours before so there wasn't much we could do. If you are going to have the beach party negotiate a head of time a back up location. I would suggest trying to bargain to have it at the licey resaturant as it is almost always empty and there is a small cafe at the side that is not in use in the evenings. I didn't know about this until after our reception, but I am sure if you push hard enough you could make happen. If you do not choose to have a private reception you get a portion of an a-la-cart for two hours. No music. No private bar... nothing private
As for the details of the ceremony, again don't expect that the amount of planning and detail you put into that moment will be reflected in the way you are treated. When we got there, despite NUMEROUS emails, Francelia did not know where we wanted the ceremony or at what time. The judge (civil ceremony) had not even been confirmed and we didn't know the time of the ceremony for sure until a day and a half after our meeting appointment. We had it at 3:00. Perfect time. The sun was up, it was warm, and gave lot of time for pictures after and before dinner.
We had a friend do almost all of the photos. We did get the 15 included with the princess package and they were beautiful, however you do not own the prints and you will not have a digital copy of them. To get a CD will cost you extra.
The honeymoon-suite vs platinum suite! THis was a big issue for me. We had a large group and so to thank us our travel agent book us a honeymoon suite. If you are considering upgrading to this i would NOT recommend it. Instead, go for the plantinum suite. All of the same things are included but the rooms are much newer, closer to the beach, have more in-room alcohol and the platinum lounge with free internet and private bar is well worth it. Had I known this a head of time I would have asked to be switched.
I am not on this site very often anymore but if you have any more specific questions i'll try to answer them. I just added a post for some questions I had about the marriage certificate so I will try and check back often.
GOOD LUCK