DawnBuckley

Hi Brides to be! When I was married at the Palladium last year, I was considering bringing table runners but had enough stuff to bring with me. It turned out perfect anyhow because Carolina had done all the tables with white tablecloths. My colours were turquoise and white so there was a lovely table centerpiece on the head table (which sat 10 of us). The centerpiece had turquoise ribbons rnning throughout so it was very lovely. I brought the ribbons but I think Carolina would have used her own on it had I not. We were 40 people in all. They set up our main head table across one section of the restaurant and in front of us in rows were 5 tables of 6 guests. I had bought clear plastic square "plates" which looked glass. I had Caroline put sand in the bottom of each and I brought ivory candles with me wth dried turqouise and ivory iris heads. They looked beautiful. Each table had two of those and I had also brought favours which were packaged in ivory boxes with the tuquoise ribbons attached. Unfortunately I cannot upload photos on this site for some reason so if anyone wants photos or advice or help with anything, please add me as a friend on Facebook (Dawn Buckley from Ottawa Canada). Glad to help out. Very exciting time for your girls... enjoy it!

I had tried to post wedding pics on this site but have had trouble in the past. Richarsd... our wedding date was April 12th as well! Of course that was last year. If you are on Facebook, look me up... Dawn Buckley. I am in Ottawa too. If we chat on Facebook, you can see the pics I have posted there. Anyone else who is interested can do the same. Just let me know you are from this site.

We got married last April 2010 at Grand Palladium. We had actually worked with a great wedding coordinator/travel agent where we live who had worked at various hotels in Punta Cana. She suggested the Grand Palladium due to the great food. She had shown us other 5 stars but it was her recommendation because they were so well known for having the best options and delicious meals. We were 40 people and had a blast. Everything about the resort including the on site wedding Coordinator Carolina were absolutely fantastic. It's an exciting time ladies... enjoy it!

Hi there! I bought them in Montreal on St. Hubert street which is where all the bridal shops are. Too bad they weren't your size.

When I saw these wedding shoes, I had already bought another pair but just loved them and they looked gorgeous when I tried them on with my dress. Then I ended up wearing the first pair so these were only worn during the dress fitting. They are Blossom Collection Size 6 and are Pure White. They have just the right amount of sparkle... waiting for the perfect bride who takes a size 6! Will sell for $35 plus shipping. Here's a link to my kijiji ad. Beautiful Size 6 Wedding Shoes - Never Worn - Ottawa Clothing For Sale - Kijiji Ottawa

How about something like "Please choose the seat where you'd like to eat!"

Hi Girls! I have been MIA too! Been busy trying to plan the AHR. We are definitely having it here at home in the backyard on June 19th! It better not rain as we don't have a tent yet! Oh well...I am sure it will all work out.. fingers crossed everyone! I sent an evite for this party and so far have 56 confirmed that they are coming but 60 have not replied. If they come and bring someone...yikes! But the way I look at it... if they didnt reply immediately, they don't know yet if they can make it so chances are maybe half of that number won't come, so we shall see. Gave them a deadline of this Friday. Sungodess.... its almost here for you! I am trying to do a review too and post it quickly. Having trouble with photos on here though so I opened a photobucket site and might just do a link to all photos so you can all see the beach party, dinner, hotel, gazebo, etc. Will do that soon... I promise. As Caribbeanlover said it is friggin hot here! Just walked to the store for my husbands b-day cake. And guess what I am doing in this heat... cooking a turkey! Just a small one. His Mom and daughter are coming over so it should be fun.. HOT.. but fun. Talk soon girls! Really excited for those of you whose wedding is around the corner!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by DEH83 It looks like most of us went with the same flowers! I didn't like the options that were included, so I went with lilies and the single lilies for the girls. I brought my own ribbon and they did a great job with it. It was a last minute pick-up and I'm glad I did! (the pin was something my Aunt had been saving for my wedding day for over 10 years. She passed away last year, so it was extra special when my cousin gave it to me) Sorry for the loss of your Aunt.. what an adorable pin. It must have been touching to know that she had saved it for you. Obviously she had a great sense of humour.

Quote: Originally Posted by MilitaryMrs.s-to be Don't get to ahead of your self with the menu options because Carolina emailed to confirm that we have La Uva and we didn't end up there. We were at the Mexican restaurant. (I think each rest. had a different menu, I don't remember any of the options you guys listed.) Which was still really good. And your blocked off from the rest of the restaurant so nobody bothers you. We had ceaser salad for appetizer, grilled T bone steak (best I've EVER had!) And one vegetarian meal for one of our groomsman. It looked amazing, I wish I ordered one for myself! and chocolate lasagna and wedding cake for dessert. They were suppose to serve the cake at the lobby where everyone was drinking/waiting for us while we had pictures but they didn't they just set it on the bar and then everyone was scared to touch it so my dad brought it to the restaurant on the train with us. lol. But they actually had a cake table set up there so I guess they were waiting for the cake. Ps - the cake is the BESTEST cake you will ever eat!! And I don't eat cake!! You can end up at any restaurant but I think you choose from the menu (which is food from each restaurant). For example, we were at La Uva for the dinner but the food (Beef Medallions) was from Arecife restaurant. We went there later during the week and had something different... food is amazing there! And I guess if you want the cake for dessert, you just tell Carolina. We chose the tiramisu but had a guest who had chocolate allergies so we told her we wanted to cut the cake after dinner and serve it. Our groomsmen ran around and delivered cake to every table! They wasn't planned but it was fun!

Quote: Originally Posted by caribbeanLover Dawn, That was just great idea going and trying the menu at the resto's.. smart thinking!!!! wish I'd had the time to have done that lol!! The cake WAS amazig... best wedding cake I've ever tasted!!!! Ohhh you brought your own ribbon!!! I should have done that, but it was still very nice with the white ribbon. Aww the single ones are adorable!!! I just made my girls bouquet for $3 lol and they brought it down with their dress. Didn't get ruined in the travel! This is not the greatest image of the bouquet.. it was a few day later, but it gives you an idea of the ribbon, etc. The locket was an image of my Mom and Dad... my something borrowed.

Quote: Originally Posted by caribbeanLover Dawn, the one you said you had tried and didn't like, the pasta..well I choice that, what a mistake!!! How did you get the chance to try them all out before picking? I only had 1 meeting with her so there was no way I could have done that, granted I got there Saturday for a Tuesday wedding. Good for you for having the menu still..something to keep as a memory lol! Here is the bouquet I got, it was extra it cost $35.... I saw some girls have different colour ribbon, i didn't think of it but if I did I would have gotten turqouise. Hi Tracy! We had our meeting with Carolina then went to the menus posted in the lobby, found out that a few of the meals were at La Uva (thats where your pasta dish was) so a few of us arranged to have dinner there to try different dishes and desserts. I found that the chocolate there is not as yummy and chocolatey as here so we just decided on the tiramisu and wedding cake. Wedding cake was awesome eh? One of the choices of bouquet was red roses. I changed mine to white roses and gave them the turquoise ribbon to wrap around. Girls... bring your own ribbon and they will fix your bouquet for you. I will try to upload a photo but it seems that the size is never right... how do you go and change your photos to fit? Are you saving files as jpegs or bmps? HELP!

Quote: Originally Posted by sungoddess_08 Woah! lots of posts -- great info!! I can't believe oyu only have 13 days! You are so lucky! I'm counting down -- 45 for me! Ah...I know it will go fast, but not fast enough! We went to the states last night and I bought an amazing honeymoon dress -- it's soo cute. Also picked my FI up some white linen pants, we will look very honeymoon-ie! What are the other options for dinner? Chicken/pasta and beef medalions? Are there any other options -- Tracy, I think it was you who was thinking about the french onion soup, did you end up getting it? I am pretty well ready to go, I've been doing iron on rhinestones for bathing suit bottoms/tank tops, and my dress is now 100% finished...Our mugs/bags for favors are in (I'm drinking coffee from one right now lol). I am debating moving the ceremony up from 5:00 to 5:30ish, Carolina said that's fine - but subject to change --- did any of your times change? I'm not too worried about it, but I'd like it a little later so we can go straight to dinner. FI is at a conference at a hospital in Toronto and I decided to come, but I forgot about the time I'd be sitting around in between. I'm in a cafe dying for more coffee lol. Wow! So many posts since my last visit... I have to go back and read them all. Just noticed yours Sungoddess... your big day will be here soon! Our wedding time was at 6 pm and Carolina did tell us when we had our meeting with her that it might be bumped up to 5:30 if the judge was early. So we told our guests to be at the gazebo fo 5:30. I think Carolina came to get me around 5:45 or so. As for the menu, I happen to have a printout in front of me! This is the menu we got to choose from and I believe it was the same for everyone. Doug and I ran around to the restaurants serving the dishes to taste test before. We chose the Beef Medallions and they were excellent. We also chose Caesar salad but got Caprese instead (it was great so we didn't mind). We chose Tiramisu for dessert but also cut and served our vanilla cake so thats what most people ate. Here's the Menu: Appetizers: - Onion Soup au Gratin - Minestrone Soup - Pasta with shrimps, tomatoes, spinach and curry - Lobster Bisque - Caesar Salad - Caprese Salad - Mostacholli with 3 cheeses (not sure what this is) - Canneloni with spinach and mozzarella Main Dishes: - Grilled TBone - Beef Medallions with Three Pepper Sauce - Grilled Chicken Breast stuffed with Shrimp - Chicken Tetrassini (we tried this and weren't crazy about it... pasta, chicken, mashed potatoes... odd combination) - Beef Milanaise Parmesan (tomato sauce, ham and cheese) -- Again we tried it ahead of time.. it was so-so - Loin of Pork with Marsala Sauce - Salmon Filet - Grilled Bass Filet Desserts: - Tiramisu - Chocolate Lasagna - Fresh Fruit Mosaic - Chocolate Bombon with peppermint flavour - Brownie with Vanilla Cream and Ice Cream - Puff Pastry Cake with sweet Apples and Chocolate Sauce Hope this helps ladies!

Quote: Originally Posted by missbliss85 Hi Dawn, I can't remember the exact amount for the Centurion, but I know that pricing depends on which room you book. We have the Adriatic room, which I put down a $1000 deposit for the date, and I think they required a minimum of $3200 on food and drinks for our booking (based on room size, etc.) You might want to take a look there, as they have about 5 different rooms, many of which can be combined into one larger room. I think the Centurion requires that you use their caterer and bar as well. I'm from Old Ottawa South (area of Bank St. near Billings Bridge) - my parents live about a 5 minute walk from the canal. For our invitations, since I sent these out before we left for our wedding, I bought a simple DIY kit from Staples and printed out the invites and RSVP cards on my computer. To make them look a bit nicer, I printed a photo of DH and I onto vellum paper and attached the vellum on top of the invite. Everybody's been complementing them, and kept asking me where I had them made! Right now I'm stuck waiting for people to reply by May 15th (I purposely made the RSVP date early so that I would have time to chase down the late responders). Leah Thanks for all the great info. Leah! Well this weekend, we decided... we are doing it ourselves... yikes! Hubby is set on having the AHR right here at the house. We will turn it into a BBQ party. Need to find out this week how much for the rental of table, chairs, etc. and hopefully a tent. I heard that they are soooo expensive, but its a little classier with a tent! I will do an evite... not so exciting I know, but we plan it for June 19th which is SOON!! This way, we will know pretty quickly who opened the invite and whether or not they will be attending. Good thing I like party planning. Lets just hope no mosquitos or RAIN comes our way...positive thoughts... sunshine and no bugs!! Isn't party planning fun

I purchased 15 beautiful Thai Silk turquoisey blue boxes from Boston Bride last September. See the following thread (hope this works) or go to her August 27 posting if you can. http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...tations-48331/ These are gorgeous boxes which I intended to use to give my MOH, mother in law and bridesmaids their gifts OR I was going to use them for wedding favours (larimar jewellery). Unfortunately we had 40 people join us for our wedding so I did not have enough boxes. One of the boxes has a mark on it but the others are still wrapped in the box I received them in. I paid $15 per box but am willing to sell them for $10 each. Could even split them up if someone wants them. Please let me know. They are absolutely beautiful. If you cannot see the posting on here, I can email you photos. For some reason, I cannot seem to upload pics. Thanks! Dawn

Quote: Originally Posted by rgonzalez_83 Hi April Brides! Does anyone have any pics of the beach party they wouldn't mind sharing? We had originally wanted the private reception but now I'm wondering if it would be better to do the beach party instead. Thanks, Rebecca Hi Gals! The beach party features big spotlights and some hanging flag decorations but very very simple. They use white patio furniture and stack the lounge chairs under a palapa so you can use them or not use them. We didn't. The dj is in a little yellow shack and the bar is on the opposite side. The beach is your dance floor so there is no need for any decorations. I will try to post some dancing photos and the dj in his booth. They did do a nice fabric entrance for us but unfortunately I don't see it in the photos! Sorry!

Quote: Originally Posted by sungoddess_08 you all should come back in June for someeeeonee's wedding!! I am so excited - I hit under the 2 month mark yesterday! and even less until we leave (we leave the 22 and our wedding is on our guests last day - the 28th). So really my countdown goes until the 22nd. Once I'm there I'm happy! I'm nervous about the flight, I went to see this person to give me tips about flying (never been worried before, but really anxious about it this time) Can anyone tell me their happy flight stories - was it great having everyone with you on the flight? smooth? I'm terrified - but I plan on taking some anti-anxiety meds on the way! lol...or some drinks! How was check in at the hotel - what time did you all get there? We get to the resort around 9:30-10 at night now so we won't get to see anything until the next day! So excited for you! I was glad to have the first week with our guests before the wedding. I wasn't nervous at all... it kept seeming like the wedding was next week! It was also great because I did a little welcome book with everyone's picture and this gave them time to meet each other. Everyone would gather at the swim up bar, have dinners together or meet in the lobby so by the time the wedding rolled around, everyone knew each other. Don't worry about the flight. Everything will work out fine. I would assume you are flying Sunwing. They serve free wine! Have a few glasses, and enjoy the ride! And yes it will be great having people on the flight with you. Don't worry my little friend... all will be wonderful! Check in went smoothly for us. We arrived around 1:30 or 2:00 in the afternoon. You get in line and fill out a short form with your passport numbers, etc. Doesnt take too long. Plus they were walking around with cocktails so that jump started the vacation anyhow! Since you arrive in the evening, there will be plenty of people hanging around the lobby having drinks and listening to the singers so it will be a party atmosphere for sure. Nothing to worry about... just exciting things to look forward to!!! PS that would be awesome to fly back and enjoy someones wedding in June!!! Dawn

Quote: Originally Posted by MilitaryMrs.s-to be We used a cd. I put on 3 songs to play while the guests were waiting (should of had more) and a song for my girls to come out to, a song for myself and my dad to walk to, a song for signing the papers, an exit song, a cake cutting song, and a first dance song. It was really nice. Cheaper then the trio as well. more personal I think. It would have been nice to get the bd back though And don't bother with the cake cutting song. they didn't even play it and we didn't need it. We did the same... long song for walking down the aisle (Wonder What God Was Thinking) and then signing song (I'm Yours). It worked out perfectly although they played I'm Yours twice so 3 or 4 songs on a cd is even better. We brought our first dance songs on a cd to the dj too. He also used our iPods for the beach party which was great.

Quote: Originally Posted by missbliss85 Hi Dawn, We decided to plan a somewhat "formal" AHR in Ottawa over the July long weekend. We're going to have some hors d'oeuvres for when people arrive, then we'll show a slideshow of our photos, then a sit-down dinner, a first dance (since we only had 9 people at our wedding, we didn't bother doing it then) and then dancing for the rest of the night. I also believe that our parents each plan on giving a speech, but other than that the rest of the night isn't structured. I did send out invitations, which I'm slowly starting to get back from everyone. I'm guessing that we will have around 80 people at the reception. Where are you having your reception? We booked at the Centurion Banquet Centre. Hi there! Sounds like yours is all planned and will be nice! We tentatively chose June 19th for ours but now have to spread the word. We had 40 people at our wedding but there are a ton of people we invited from Montreal and here in Ottawa who said they will definately come so we could be looking at over 100 easily! That's why we are not too sure what to do. Doug wants to have it at our home here in Bourget. We have a big back yard and could rent a tent (which could be over $600) but what if it rains? He thinks everyone can just come inside. We do have a double garage which could hold a lot of people but the flow of the house is not that big for people hanging out in the kitchen area if you know what I mean. Also he wants to provide all the food which I am excited to do (lots of salads, ham cooked ahead of time, chicken on the bbq, etc.) but we only have one oven so what happens with hot hors doeuvres? LOTS to think about and Fast! I also have friends in bands which would be amazing if people could just get up and sing but for that I think we would need a hall. The Centurion was a place we were considering too. Do you mind me asking how much it is? THere is also the River Rock Inn here in Rockland. Unfortunately, you have to use their caterer and bar. We have to weigh all the costs. And like I said... I better hurry up! Which area of Ottawa are you in? What did you do for your invitations? Did you make them yourself? Did they have a wedding shot of you guys on it? I was thinking of doing that. Then I may mail them out and have people email or phone with a reply. Dawn

Quote: Originally Posted by shankd it seems like we all had hickups during the day.....it rained on my parade, like 1 hr before my ceremony, so Carolina called me stating that my ceremony will have to be done in Heminways, since everything was soaked and they didn't have time to decorate the gazebo. I must admit I was very disapointed, but can't control the weather.....rain is good luck anyway!!!!! The ceremony was beautiful, perfect coudn't ask for anything more.... I had the beach party booked, but again had to cancel because they were calling for rain for a 24 hr period and didn't want my guests getting wet....so I postponed it till the following night.....Diner was great, we were at the Spanish restaurant, the ceasar salad was awsome, so very well decorated.....amasing diner. That's one thing can't complain about the food, everything was great!!!! we headed back to Heminways (all premium liquor) beautiful bar.....we had our first danced, and drank champagne till the disco opened and partied our faces off!!!! Great tunes.......we shut the place down..... When we got back to my room.....no decorations, no champagne, no gift....I called room service twice that day to have my room cleaned, they never showed. I had to clean my own room because didn't want unmade beds for my wedding day pictures......not impressed!!!!! We were woken up the next day with our breakfast in bed.....we requested it at 8:30, and it came on time....we took a bottle of champagne from the bar the night before, so we had champagne and orange juice on our patio that morning...... we went to the pool and ocean with the kids all day, amazing beautiful day, it did rain a bit in the afternoon. When we got back to the room, the maid cleaned my room and took my champagne flutes.........I called everyone and their mother to try and get them back, no one really did anything about it. I went to bed in tears that night. They were my flutes that I brought from home...... The next day, my husband spoke to the maids boss, he was back in 5 minutes with my flutes. They were in the back room, I guess they don't bring dirty dishes to be washed right away......Thank god I got them back. So moral of this story, if you don't want something misplaced or taken by accident, put it away!!!!!! They are very honest people, I trust them not to steal, but they have a job to do, and they try to do it well....... A few days later when I went to pay Carolina, I tried to dispute the price of the wedding, I didn't get the decorations, the chamgagne, the basket of fruit, the wedding gift......and added to her that my room wasn't even cleaned the day of my wedding!!!!! Her jaw hit the floor!!!!! This was the friday before leaving sat morning!!! We hit the beach and did some shopping and got some more sun, and drinks.....when we came back to the room, the just married sign was on my door, the champagne and flutes where on ice, my basket of fruit and rum were on the table. The wedding gift were two t-shirts with we just married at the Palladium written on the back. So all in all I am married to my best friend.......bottom line. It wasn't the magical day I had expected!!!! My husband and I and most of the group we were with thought the resort was way to big and lacked direction!!! There were way to many rules.....they say you don't need reservations, but for certain ones you do....they have a buffet at the pool, but can't go in if your wet or don't have a cover up. I had a small serong on, witch covered my bottom half and was wearing a monokini, they turned me away and told me to put a shirt on!!!! There are 2 bars at the pool, I was in the kids section with my daughter, went up to the bar to get her a pop, and the bartender told me to go to the bar in the pool because I was wet!!!!!! Not impressed...... In my opinion Carolina does her job very well, but is very much overloaded. They do too many weddings a day, and the married couples go without, or some of their stuff goes missing......To do this over again, I would go in there fully loaded, and pretty much know what, where, and how everything will go down, so you know and can also orchestrate where your sentimental valuables will be!!!! HDC photography made my day.....if it wasn't for Arnaud, I would have wanted to do my day over again!!!!! He is the best.....Once my pics will be on facebook I will post the link..... Shank, Can't believe you had to clean your own room. I think it was hit or miss with the maids. We lucked out. Our maid was sooo sweet. When she found out we were getting married, she told me she was going to make a nice room for us. She actually decorated it twice that day! First she went in early, tied the curtains up in a bow, had the usual flowers everywhere. I went in the hall to thank her and hug her. While I was having my hair done, she came in with gifts. She gave me a beautiful shell necklace and an incense kit. She also gave my sister a shell necklace. After the ceremony and dinner, we popped back up to the room to get stuff before the beach party and they had redone the room with a trail of those coloured petals to the bed. She was absolutely amazing. We did not get the t-shirts. Too bad... those would have been neat. Like I said earlier, we did not get breakfast in bed but were not too worried about it. For all you girls wondering about the menu... Carolina told us we had La Uva ahead of time which was great because our rooms, the gazebo, La Uva and beach party were a stones throw away from each other so it was perfect. They had the decor that I brought and maybe some extra stuff around. To be honest, I don't remember other decor. But we had a whole little section to ourselves so it was nice. We had a few days to decide on the menu so we went to the restaurants serving those foods and tested a few beforehand. I am glad we did because Tracy, I agree with you.. the chicken dish with the fettucini and mashed potatoes underneath was kinda gross. We had tested ahead of time so knew that we were def. not choosing that one! We had not tested the beef medallions in pepper sauce but chose them and it was the best meal we had during our time there so we lucked out. There is also a vegetarian menu and kids menu so ask for these if you need them gals.

Quote: Originally Posted by caribbeanLover We're finally back already missing the royal resaturant lol!! I was only able to upload half of our TTD so far, will get to the ceremony tomorrow hopefully http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?...5872180&ref=mf Girls, who just got married. Did you guys get champagne in your room the wedding night?! ANd did you guys get a gift? if so what was it? We didn't get either. I had a feeling about the champagne but didn't realize until now when I re looked at the package we paid for. what should I even do about it? just let it go?!?!?! not like I'll get it now or anything. Hi Tracy! Welcome back! We got a bottle of rum and a fruit plate the evening of the wedding. We were supposed to have the breakfast in bed that we had selected for the next morning but it never arrived. Also... did you have to pay for the steaming of your dress? I thought it was part of the package but we were billed for it on checkout. I have to double check that one.

Just came back from being married there and it is beautiful. It is basically the three resorts in one. The Bavaro section has three great restaurants. We ate at all of them and honestly the food was great. The resort is so well maintained... clean and great staff. Our room was very nice (we didnt upgrade but it was just fine). Dont worry about what you read on Trip Advisor. I am telling you the entire resort was just lovely.

Quote: Originally Posted by msredbird51 I had to send you a friend request, too. Hope you don't mind! So many congratulations! Your profile picture on FB is so pretty! I can't wait to read and hear all about it! For you and/or anyone else who just returned, I do have a couple of questions: Did you do the beach party? Was it worth the extra cost? Who was your photographer and how did that go? Did you use the salon services? How much was it and were you satisfied? Did you do a legal ceremony? We are doing the legal ceremony and I'm so confused on the paperwork. I can't figure out if all of the documents (birth certificates, passports, passports of witnesses and single status affidavit) has to be translated AND legalized, or if just some of them do. -Dana Hi Dana! Accepted your friend request on FB so you can see some of the photos. We did the beach party. We had the legal ceremony with the judge at the gazebo. It was great and went smoothly. We had to have all the documents you are referring to, translated and legalized at the DR Embassy here in Ottawa. Then we brought the paperwork to Carolina. I think the ones that were legalized by them were my fiances divorce papers because he had been married previously. But you bring everything with you and the embassy puts the legal stamp on whatever needs it. We chose not to have a photographer so that shots you will see are just from family and friends. However, my cousins boyfriend came and offered to take photos and do a wedding album for us as a wedding gift. He was with us a good part of the day and he also took photos of everyone at dinner, etc. Cant wait to see his shots. The beach party I felt was worth it. Dont worry about decor as it is just the plastic tables and chairs but everyone was up dancing and they had decorated the entrance to the beach with white fabric and we had our white and turquoise flowers around. But you dont need decor for that. We also had the dj for $250. He was great. I brought our first dance on a cd. Also, several of us had our ipods and he just used the music we had so it was good. It rained on us for 15 minutes at 11:30. No one cared as they either took cover or many of the kids and teenagers went in the water and then kept dancing. It all cleared up and you only have the beach until 12 so it worked out perfect. My finances cousin from England is a hair stylist and she did my hair. I did have the Spa there do my makeup and they did an excellent job. I was very red on my nose and cheeks from the sun and they blended my tan so that the photos would not make me look like Rudolph. I highly recommend them. It cost me $56. We were fortunate to have the wedding at 6 pm. Then we had drinks and took a few shots on the beach. We simply had to walk two minutes across the lawn for dinner at La Uva at 7. Then we did the cake cutting after dinner so that guests could eat the cake for dessert if they wanted. We went to the beach right there so there was absolutely no walking all over the place, which worked out great for older relatives.

Quote: Originally Posted by missbliss85 Hi everyone! We're planning a DW in the Mayan Riviera in April 2010, and throwing a AHR in Ottawa (my FI and I are both from here originally) in July 2010. I've already booked a banquet hall, but I'm trying to make it a more casual dinner and dance reception. We won't be doing anything too traditional, other than our first dance. Since the AHR is in the summer, we're going to let everyone know that they can dress more casually for the party. I haven't quite figured out what to hand out as favours...I was thinking of keeping things simple (and inexpensive) and just have candy favours in a cute box. I did spot some cute palm tree favour boxes at weddingfavours.ca. Is anyone planning on doing a slideshow of the wedding? Hi MissBliss.... just got married on April 12 in Dominican Republic and we are also planning our AHR here in Ottawa for June. Haven't planned too much yet. Hoping to have it here at home but we may end up having so many people, we may have to consider a hall.Where are you having yours in the end? Did you send invites out? We ended up with 40 people joining us in Punta Cana so we have had a big party there but now want to do something with everyone else. Not sure if we will have wedding favours but I would like to maybe to a cupcake tree or something. Are you having a sit down meal?

Hi Girls! I am back from the wedding! What a beautiful resort, Carolina was great, the wedding was fabulous and it was the perfect wedding in paradise! Tracy, was happy to meet you in the lobby on your first day. Saw you walk by a few times but unfortunately did not get to the meet and greet as some of our guests were leaving that day and we wanted to spend time with everyone before they left. Girls... there is absolutely nothing to worry about with Carolina... she is on the ball and works her little butt off. I have a copy of the menu selections (assuming they always offer the same choices) We chose the beef medallions from Arecife restaurant and they were absolutely fantastic. All our guests commented that this was by far the best meal of the week (and the food in the restaurants is pretty awesome). I have photos on Facebook. Here is a link (hope it works) Let me know if it doesn't. Dawn Buckley | Facebook You may have to scroll through the comments to see other pictures posted. Add me as a friend so you can see all of them. If you have any questions gals, feel free to ask away. I will be posting a review as well as a planning thread shortly. So excited for those of you who still have this exciting day to look forward to. Now, we are planning our AHR for June. Will keep you posted on those plans as they develop.

Quote: Originally Posted by caribbeanLover Perfect!! Happy one week!! lol today at 2:30 I said in a week we'll be at our ceremony!!! Hows everything going? got everything done? what about ur AHR? Thanks so much Isabelle, Would u like to meet up at one point? I keave only on the 24th Sungodes, Hows it going with you Hows the planning? Dawn, I'll be able to wish you happy wedding in person. But have a safe flight. And try and enjoy your time before the wedding, try not stress to much (I'll have to take my own advice) see you Saturday xoxo I will look for your Saturday!! Toodles, noodles! xox