beachbum

i'd completely agree that it's definitely worth it to stay in RST. We were at RST for our entire stay in PC.

We are back, and married!!! We stayed at the RST April 11-18, 2010, and were married Friday, 4/16. We had 40 guests travel down to Punta Cana for the wedding. Finally I've gotten around to writing a review.

Delta Airlines - B

When we went to check in, we asked since there was a first class cabin, if it was possible for them to hang up my dress. Jayson, the Delta employee, goes, "well, you're not traveling in first class". To which I replied, I know. And we just left it at that. We figured he wouldn't be on our plane anyway. We boarded, asked the flight attendant about hanging it up, and she said the closet wasn't long enough and to use the overhead bin. It ended up working out fine because my dress bag had its own bin and laid out flat. They did have TVs on the plane and I ended up watching two movies on the ride down.

April in Punta Cana - A- We had rain a little bit every day, sometimes up to a half hour. The day of the boat cruise it was fine, but then it poured for 20 mins straight. The rest of the time it was sunny and HOT!

Check in - B

The computers were down and the resort lost power when we checked in, but, i was too excited to even care!

Royal Suites Turquesa - B+

All of our guests booked in RST for the duration of their trip. We were in a honeymoon suite in the old section, 5241. The honeymoon suite was larger, but had no special perks other than the jacuzzi tub was outside instead of in the room. My parents and a few others were in our section (closer to the beach), but the majority was in the new section (farther from the beach, with its own pools across the little road). While it was a pain that everyone wasn't together, the furnishings and the look of the new section, especially those with swim up suites, was much nicer. Everyone liked the rooms. The butler service was spotty - some found it great, others it took a really long time, and same goes with room service.

Wedding Coordinator Carolina - B- I give her a B because I think both her and her assistant Kenia have way too much on their plates and there are too many weddings each day. I also asked to have the chair sashes I brought down back, and by Sunday, we had to leave, and they never gave them back to us. We also had to call the lobby and the wedding coordinator multiple times to get my inlaws' suitcase back so they could pack stuff in it to go home! it's a good thing my mom remembered to get the cake topper i also brought off of the cake once they cut it for us. I was under the assumption that Carolina provided menus (we had paid for a private reception at El Arrecife), and there were no menus on the guests' place settings. I could have printed them off Vistaprint so easily had I known she wouldn't make them!

Carolina was supposed to call our room to get me and the bridesmaids, and we ended up going to the lobby and getting the butler to take us in the golf cart because it was getting close to 4 pm, when the ceremony was supposed to start.

Hair and make up - A- While the spa is pricey, I did like both my hair and makeup. I prepaid on paypal, but i don't recommend it since i think if you go the first day you are checked in to make the appointment, you shouldn't have a problem. I had to skip my hair trial and they were gracious enough to let me reschedule, so that was great. Sometimes there was a little language barrier, but it ended up fine, one of the other girls would come over and help decipher what the hairstylist was trying to do and if I was ok with it. I brought down false eyelashes with me, and ended up not using them, because they put this goop on them - if you want to use them, you either need to bring the glue as well, or, apply them yourself.

Ceremony - A- Priest Jean LaCaille - A Everyone loved the ceremony! We had the catholic package. He gave a nice sermon, it was short, no complaints there. We were in the old gazebo, which just isn't as nice as the new one, but its the only outdoor location for Catholic ceremonies. GP is not going to perform catholic ceremonies outdoors going forward, as the diocese just renovated the church.

Dominican Trio - B I wasn't expecting the accordion player, and it drowned out the other two guys (guitar and something else, i guess some percussion instrument). It was $100 for the trio, but I think a CD or ipod would have been just as nice.

DJ Mannia - A++ We met with carlos two days before, I didn't really prepare a song list, but the small list we gave him with the essentials (our song, father/daughter, etc.) he had everything and more! We got multiple compliments on the music selection, and he seemed to "read" our group perfectly. Completely would recommend!!!

Shavon's wedding silks - A We used Shavon for our flowers, and they were perfect! We saved a lot by not buying one of the fresh flower packages for all the bridesmaids at the resort. My mom carried the complimentary bridal bouquet down the aisle.

Wedding Boat Punta Cana - A++ We took all of our guests on the wedding boat as a "rehearsal dinner" the night before. We had a little bit of rain when we were getting on the boat, but it made for some great stories! We chose the mixed seafood grill, and it was delicious! This was one of the best meals we had while in DR.

HDC Photography - A++ We had Milan from HDC shoot our wedding, and a videographer as well. Both were fantastic, we got pictures back the next evening, and by Sunday (two days after the wedding), we had our photos and CDs for all the prints! I can't say enough about Arnaud and his staff, check out the HDC thread on the DR thread, because there are a lot of us happy brides out there!

Cocktail hour - A+ The food was excellent! We paid for the $6 pp menu, and it was SOOO worth it! The guests were hungry, people enjoyed the spread, and it was delicious! I wouldn't say the food is great in the buffets, but, this food was extra good. We had tempura shrimp, prosciutto, a bunch of things, I just can't remember.

Wedding - A There were minor things that bothered me, but, they were so minor that it's just a special day where we became husband and wife. It was a great decision to have a destination wedding and spend a few days away with our family and friends.

We chose the Grand Palladium complex because we could have the adults only aspect of RST, while my aunts and uncle could stay at the Palace Section with teenagers. For the price point, more guests were able to come, which makes us glad we did choose that resort. However, I waffled between GP and both Dreams, and I think I would have had a great wedding at any of those. You do not receive any special treatment at RST because you are a bride, because there are just so many.

Dinner reception - A The servers were friendly, and the food was great! Even the chef got in the conga line towards the end. The food we served were the caprese salad (it was alright), the beef medallions (delicious!) and then fruit and wedding cake. The cake we had was vanilla, but then it also had a layer that tasted like mocha? It was whipped icing, and we love buttercream, so the cake was a bit of a disappointment. I gave them blue ribbon to match our colors which they used, but, the cake layers were so thin the proportion looked a little bit off. I'm probably the only one who would notice it!

Feel free to PM me if you have questions!

tracy, we used HDC also, Milan(?) was our photographer, but we met Arnaud too, since he dropped off the photos to us before we left.

I only had a few photos from dinner, we did the father daughter and our first dance songs then, and the cake cutting.

We also had Mannia for our wedding, 4/16, at the Grand Palladium. Such a fantastic idea, he was phenomenal! Multiple people kept commenting on how great he was. You will not regret hiring them!

I used the Dominican trio for the ceremony...they were...ok. It was cheap ($100), but, cheap is also just bringing a CD down with some songs on it. One of them played the accordion, which wasn't so tropical sounding, if that makes sense? It kinda overpowered the other instruments. It was one less thing for me to stress about, but, in retrospect I think I would have been fine using a CD.

shankd and I had a similar experience...I'm thrilled that I'm married, it was in a beautiful setting, but she really said it best that for us too, there were a couple of things that were off, and I never got all of my stuff back either after telling carolina I wanted the chair sashes and some other things. It is another word to future brides that sometimes the Palladium needs to work out the kinks and too many weddings in a day i'm sure can overload Carolina. When I get up to it, i'm going to post a full review of our experience at Royal Suites, and the weddings there in general.

Is anyone down there yet? I'm getting (hopefully unnecessarily) paranoid about the weather - rain every day next week weather.com can be wrong alot, right?

I'm bringing my own centerpieces, my MIL is bringing them down for me. they are glass vases from bed bath and beyond with shells on the bottom and a candle on top. I would post a link, but i don't think you can purchase them anymore.

What is the process once you are back with a DR WEdding certificate? Does it come in English or in Spanish. If its in Spanish, do we have to go to the consulate to have it translated?

tracy, I love those hairstyles! I think both of your sample photos are beautiful.

Tracy, you're right, i'm there starting the 11th. And, thanks for making me not feel as bad about the raisin bread and girl scout cookies i had!

I'm up for the meet and greet, is Sunday the 11th good? I know we won't be able to meet everyone, but I didn't think there were many weddings on Sundays.

Do we get any kind of bride discount at the spa? I want to book online too

Tracy, cute shower photo!

I looked on some past Candy buffet threads here, and they said 1/2 lb to a pound per person (probably will have some leftovers) is sufficient.

I love the idea of the sandpails!

Do you girls already have the jars and scoops or did you get them on here or buy elsewhere?