GEM

Tiara Tiara is great. She does take a little time responding to emails, but once you meet her and see how much she has to do, it becomes clear why. We met with her 2 days after we arrived. She went through everything with us and answered any questions we had. We told her how we wanted the centerpieces and the tables and it turned out better than we even dreamed of! She is there for anything you need and stays for most of the wedding to make sure everything is going smoothly. She defintely knows what she is doing so please girls, just trust her. I was not one of those brides that had to know everything about everything...I knew that it would turn out great and was even more confident after we met with Tiara. Â HDC Photo HDC takes amazing pictures and we are so glad we chose them. Arnaud is very personable and very sweet and really knows the best places on the resort to take pictures. I will try and post some of our pics but please, if you have facebook and would like to see the rest of ours, just request me (Gaby Michalik) because I cannot describe how good they came out. And, you get so much in the packages. We got the biggest package and it was worth every penny and more. Arnaud even stayed longer than he had to and we were very appreciative of that. He brought us our pics later the second week and sat with us as we went through them. Again, I highly recommend HDC if you really want some amazing pictures to remember your special day by. Â DJ Mannia Carlos with DJ Mannia was great. He was setting up as I was walking to the beach to get married. He is very friendly and will play anything you want him to. He followed our lead- everyone in our group loves to dance- and really played to our crowd. We even brought a CD of Polish songs (my hubby's fam is Polish) and played some songs off of that. He was great and he stayed a little longer for us, as well. Â Pastor Rick York Pastor York was great and we were so glad we made it legal here and official in DR. His ceremony was beautiful and made most of our crew tear up. He is a very sweet man and worth having him if he is available! He is a great addition! Â The Wedding Our wedding really turned out better than we dreamed. I spent the night before with some of my girls- and the boys spent the night together. We went to the spa in the morning and got our hair and nails done. Maria took care of us for most of the day and she was great! All of our hair turned out great and stayed together the whole night! After the spa, we went and got dressed, Arnaud came, and it was time to go get married! We walked to the beach and got some stares but it was so exciting! I asked Eric's grandfather to walk me down the aisle and thats when it really started to hit me what was going on. Our bridal party made an arch for us to walk under with their arms and then I saw my hubby to be! He looked so handsome! We didn't have too many people in the way but we did have some onlookers which was fine by us. If people started to swim in front, the security shooed them away. After our I do's, we had cocktail hour and drinks and it was picture time. We took pictures for a while (again, they came out amazing) and then it was party time! Carlos introduced us and we danced our way in:) We had our first dance and then Mom and Son dance and then dinner. We had the speeches which were beautiful and then a Polish tradition of Vodka and water (whomever gets the vodka is the boss and guess who got it...lol). We ate dinner- which was delicious! Then more dancing and partying and the cake. We also did the bouquet and garter toss and then more dancing and partying...lol. Since everything was on the beach, they had the beach bar open to us- which is a short walk from the reception site. The ceremony is farther down the beach than the reception area. Both spots are perfect and plenty of room. We really lucked out with the weather. It apparently drizzled in the am- I had no clue- but cleared up and was gorgeous. I really believe someone was looking out for us that day...especially after everything we have been through just trying to get married. There are so many more details that I could write about but then this review would be 5 pages long! Overall, we truly believe we could not have picked a better resort. Just with the staff, the location, the Beach, the food, the drinks, the everything...it was just amazing. Everything just turned out so well. You girls have nothing to worry about...like I mentioned before, just trust the planner and breathe and enjoy this time! Believe me, I was in your shoes a short while ago! And it went by sooo fast. Please just enjoy yourselves. If something goes wrong, stay positive and try to laugh it off. It is your and your hubby's special day!!! Do not let anyone or anything get in the way of that!!!! Â Honeymoon We were so happy we stayed at the same resort for week number two. After everyone left, we missed them a little bit...but then got over it...lol. We really felt like it was a different resort because we didn't get to fully enjoy it as much the first week because we were following everyone around. It really is a gorgeous resort and has so much to offer. Please take advantage of the room service, the restaurants, and just the time alone. Whether its walking on the beach, going on an excursion together, or just simply sitting in your room watching TV in your bathrobes....enjoy it and each other. I hope this review was helpful to everyone! I might end up adding stuff along the way:) Congrads to all Dreams Brides....past and future! It really is great to be a wife! Cheers! Mrs. Gaby Michalik Â

Well hello ladies!! I am so sorry for taking so long to write my review! I cannot believe we have been married for over a month already! Time really flies by too quickly.... So here goes my review! Â Travel We flew Continental from Newark, NJ straight to Punta Cana. There were 24 of us. We rented a party bus that picked us up promptly at 4am! Everyone was so excited! Before we left, my husband and I gave everyone their gifts that we made for them which included t-shirts saying "Headed to Paradise...for Eric and Gaby's Wedding," mugs with our names and date on them, and nips (mini vodkas). We got to the airport with plenty of time and had no trouble getting through security. Well, except for my fiance's grandfather that does not speak a word of English. He got searched because he kept beeping going through the metal detector. No one knew what was making him beep until he started pulling nip after nip out of his pockets! lol. Other than that everything went smoothly. They hung my dress up in the front of the plane and the staff was very friendly. The airport is very different from a US airport- no AC but music to welcome you! When the little mariachi band saw me carrying my wedding dress and my Bride tiara on my head, they started playing "Here comes the Bride." So cool! After we all got our luggage, we found our bus and were off to the resort! Â Check in/Rooms It took us about an hour and a half to get to the resort. Once there, check in wasn't too bad. There were a lot of us and some with special requests (for my husband's grandparents to be on the bottom floor, etc.) and after a little confusion, everyone had their room. We got ours right away. We did not get a suite but we did get upgraded to preferred club priviledges. We asked about a suite our second week- because the first week we wanted to be close to everyone and didn't mind- but were told we would have to pay more. It really didn't matter to us and were actually glad we stayed where we were because we had so much stuff! Our room was beautiful. We had a great view of the preferred club pool and ocean. We were on the top (third) floor which was cool because the ceiling looked like a cabin ceiling- wood rafters. And at night, when it rained, it sounded really cool. The room was clean everyday- always fresh towels. No bugs in our room. We stayed in building 5. The only thing is I wish they would have refilled our suntan lotion and stuff more often. But that was okay because everytime we passed the maid's cart, I would swipe what I could! lol:) Â Hotel/Restaurants/Bars In my opinion, the hotel is amazing. It is just so beautifully decorated and has a nice modern feel to it. It has so many restaurants and even though we did not get to try them all, the ones we did try were delcious! The buffet is great and you have to make sure you try the pizza by the main pool (served from noon-6). The beach bar was the bar we frequented the most- Santos, Cesar, and Beto were excellent bartenders. They really got to know our family well the first week. Especially Grandpa- he would sit by the bar playing canasta with a bottle of Absolut next to him. They were excellent and during our Honeymoon week, the second week, Santos would even bring our drinks to us. We made sure before we left to tip them extra because they made our trip even more enjoyable. The bar by the main pool is really good, too. Eric and I became familiar with this one really during our second week. I think it started on the day we received the DVD of our pictures and spent 5 hours trying to pick out which ones we wanted. After we left the room, and went through 2 bottles of champagne, we went to the main pool bar and met Antonio. He took care of us for the rest of the day (with 3 bottles later) and also the rest of the trip. We didn't really visit the pool bar too much which surprised us because the pool bar is important to us whenever we are picking a place to go on vacation. The beach was too amazing to pass up, though... Â Beach Dreams's beach is just breathtaking. First of all, the sand is smooth and clean. They have huge palapas all over the beach for people to go and sit under. The water is so clear and really is like a pool. There really aren't any waves so it is nice and calm. The view from the beach is the pier on one side and a local fishing village on the other. It really is so pretty because there are always boats docked over there and it just makes it feel...I don't know...more like you aren't in the middle of nowhere. There are always games going on and the entertainment staff to get you going to participate. If you do, you can earn their funny money which can be used at the auctions during the week to get free stuff like bottles of mamjuana and paintings. You can walk down the beach a bit to go to the little village but be careful because there are vendors there that will walk with you down the beach to try and get you to buy something. Â Entertainment/Disco/Casino The entertainment was pretty good. Some of the shows were better than others. We honestly did not see many of the shows but the ones we did see, we enjoyed. The Disco was pretty cool. Most nights they played local music but they also had themed nights. The casino was small but was fun. We won a little bit but then ended up giving it back:) Other than our wedding night, the best night there was the night we arrived- the fourth of July. After getting pretty tipsy at the pool bar and then on the beach, we all showered and changed and went to dinner at the pool party. They had tables and tables of food set up along with tables and chairs to sit. They had live music, a show, and then more live music. Unfortunately, most of our party went to bed early because we did have a long day of travelling, but Eric and I and a few others were not ready for bed! We danced and sang and me and one of Eric's cousins even jumped in the pool in our undies! It was great! Â Excursions When we were there with everyone, we went to Saona Island. This is a definite must. We had such a blast! We got picked up at our resort at 9am. This was soo cool because usually you have to drive somewhere and spend time on a bus. Once we got on, they gave us beer and rum and water. They had music and a videographer and it was just great. When we got there, they fed us lunch- so good!- and we hung out for a few hours. The water was beautiful and the sand had pink sparkles in it! After our time was up, they took us to a sandbar in the middle of the ocean that was shallow enough to stand. And here, we found and held real starfish! This was so cool! They wanted to take us back but we kept tipping them so they let us stay pretty late. There are other excursions that you can go on, but this one I highly recommend. We didn't go anywhere during our second week because we didn't want to waste time on a bus that we could be enjoying as the resort. Â Miscellaneous We did have one rainy day our first week- and that was LizzyJane's wedding day. We did meet up a couple nights and even though her pictures are beautiful, she was even more beautiful in person! She was very sweet and so was her hubby:) We enjoyed hanging out with them and wished we could have spent more time together. But sometimes it is hard with such a large group. If it does rain, there is always a rain schedule on the newsletter you get every night for the following day. Be careful of the vendors that frequent the resort every other day. They set their booths up by the pool (the main area) and can be very pushy. Just say no thank you and smile and usually that is enough for them to back off. One thing I really want to comment on is tipping the staff. They work really hard and some of them work 12 hours a day, with only one day off a week. We spent quite a bit on tips but it is so worth it. At this resort, they will take care of you regardless, but it is always appreciated and remembered if you do slip them a little something for taking such good care of you. Â My next post will be our wedding review! Â Â

Helllloo ladies! How are you?! My new hubby and I got back yesterday after a fabulous 2 week stay at Dreams. I will post our review as soon as I can...still trying to catch up and unpack. All I can say is WOW. Everything was just amazing. Our whole crew had an amazing time and our week alone was great, too. We had both the ceremony and reception on the beach and they were both breathtaking. It really turned out better than we could have ever imagined it. Tiara was great and everything fell into place. I was a more relaxed bride- and just trusted her and everything was amazing. Everything from my hair and makeup to the photographer to the DJ to the pastor to the dinner to the set up. You girls really have nothing to worry about. We were so lucky because we had plenty of sunshine on our day and again, it was just amazing. And we are finally Husband and Wife!!!!!!!!

Hi, girls! I just wanted to thank everyone for the great help you have been over the past few months. We are leaving early Sunday and we are so0o0o0 excited! I cannot belive the day is finally here! We are almost all packed, I have finished all my DIY stuff, and we are ready to go! For all the newbies...enjoy every minute of the planning. It is going to get stressful but it is a great time in your life! I can't wait to meet LJ! I will write when I get back in a little over 2 weeks! =) By then I will oficially be Mrs. Michalik!!!!! xoxoxo

Hey girls!! nsimpson, we leave on july 4th....and I just looked at my ticker and it says 1 week and 4 days to go!!! I have such butterflies and am sooo excited!! I picked my dress up the other day and it is beautiful!!! Lj, you leave in 2 days!!!!!!! Have a great safe trip and I will see you there!!! xoxo

Hey girls! Thats so great, LJ! So glad things are getting better on your end, too=) I still cannot believe that we are so close!!! I still have so much to do!! haha but i am getting there:) Does anyone know if we can use the resort's outlets or do we have to bring a power converter? I just want to bring my straightener and want to make sure I can use it. Thank you!

Hi, girls!! Thank you so much everyone for the well wishes!! It has been 10 amazing and crazy years and I am so ready to become Mrs. Michalik!! =) Thanks, nsimpson. We did order the mugs and I am still thinking about the t-shirts- but making them myself. My fiance has a very creative cousin who actually made our passport invites thru photoshop so we'll see. Oh, and I was also going to make little survival kits and put personalized little travel items in them....but Eric's fam is 100% Polish and their main survival item is vodka so I might just get everyone some vodka nips for the plane! lol:) Thanks, dolfinluck. The towels sound like a great idea! I love giving them something that they will use in the future. Thanks, Pink:) Happy 10 years to you guys, too!! Where does the time go, right?! Our civil was nice. We mainly did it with my fam and E's mom because my fam isn't going to DR- so at least they were able to participate in something. It was nice, tho. We made up with my one bro and hung out at the bar at the restaurant we went to so that was cool:) OMG, LJ!!!!! yeah we leave 2 weeks from tomorrow!!! I cannot believe its almost here!! My fiance's grandparents arrived from Poland on thursday- so it is really starting to hit me!! Can't wait to meet up!!! I gotta go girls....I still have some last minute things to do....lol. But, I have decided it is what it is and it will be great!!! xoxoxo

OMG guys!!! Its getting so close! I got a lot done..but still have some left to go. LJ, you leave in 2 weeks!!!!!! Hey, did you get anything for your guests? We are giving them mugs and photosouvenirs....but I really wanted to do more but its getting expensive. So we had our civil this past weekend...we may be legally married but we aren't officially yet! And today we are celebrating our 10 year dating Anniversary!!! Cannot believe how the time has flown and that I will finally be a married woman in less than 23 days!!! :):):):)

Hey girls! Welcome to the Newbies! Happy planning! Congrads and welcome back, fyniac:) Sounds like you had a great time, overall. I had a great time in AC, LJ!! It was just a really fun time with my girls:) The boys had fun, too:) But now we are getting down to the wire and I still have sooo much to do!! We actually have our legal ceremony tomorrow and then after that I am getting organized like never before!! I still have so much to do but I think I do work best last minute so wish me luck! lol. Can't believe you leave in 19 days!!!!!!! Its getting so close I really cannot believe it!! I am soo0o0o0000 excited!!!!!!!

OMgoodness, LJ!! You are the next one on the list!!!! wooohooo!!!!!! =) Congrads to all those May brides!! Cannot belive it is June, already!!!!!!!!!!!! =)

hey, KPEG. Sorry about all the things that went wrong!! Unfortunately, things happen that are out of our control. It sounds like you handled everything as best you could and just enjoyed your wedding day=)

Hello, ladies! =) The past few days have been sweltering here in NY...getting us ready for the weather in DR=) lol Welcome to the newbies! Lj, you mentioned you changed your locations. Where are you doing everything? Pink, everything looks great! Yey for nsimpson! You got your dress=) Thanks hjack for the review. My fiance and I are having our ceremony and reception on the beach, as well. Everything sounds great:) Thanks dolfin for your review, too. Love the dinner table and the palm trees with the lights Did you guys bring the sashes for the chairs? And how much extra was the bonfire? I love your smores idea! We might steal it=) Sorry, guys. I had to catch up a bit.

Thanks, Maybride for the info=) That makes me feel much better. I really don't care if people watch, I just don't want any creepers in the background...lol:) So glad it went so well!! I'm getting so excited! We got our marriage license on Friday!! yey!!! =)

Hi, gals. No one has written in a few days. Everyone must be busy planning...lol=) I hope all you May brides are having a fabulous time!! We also booked HDC photo. Their pictures look beautiful and I have only heard good things about them=) Oh, we got our marriage license today!! yey!! Everything is getting so close! <3

Thanks, Pink =) lol Good luck, dolfinluck!! Have an amazing time!! Can't wait to hear back from you=)

oh my goodness...my ticker says 1 month and 4 weeks...so weird! =) lol

Thanks, Maybride for a great review! So glad you had a great time=) I just wanted to ask you if your ceremony on the beach was in a private area- or was there people coming up to it? I don't mind so much people watching....just don't want them in my view in a speedo or anything. lol Good luck to all you gurls who are coming up!!!!! =)

Hi, girls! Thanks Amy for the great review! It sounds like you had an awesome wedding!! I am a little nervous about my hair and makeup, too. I'll just make sure my Bridesmaids keep on the lookout while they are doing it...lol. You looked beautiful! I am gaby gillespie from NY on fb:) Lj, I'm gonna look for you:)

Hey, Dasha, congrads! It sounds like you had a really great wedding:) Your centerpieces sound great...hope you have a pic of them:) I hadn't heard about the oil spill possible reaching DR.... Thanks, dolfinluck! I can't wait:) KPEG, don't worry about the food. In Mexico and the Caribbean (not sure where else), you should never drink the water that comes from the tap. The resorts always provide bottles or jugs of water and refill them in your room when you need more. Actually, our resort has a purification system where all of the water on the resort is okay to drink...but I personally probably won't, anyway. As far as the food is concerned, coming from someone who has been to both Mexico and DR before, the fruits and veggies are the best part! Not sure why you TA told you that. Plus, our resort has 6 golden apples (the highest rating from apple vacations), so their food I am sure is excellent. Just enjoy yourself when you go! =)