Pink_Petals

Hi, I tried to post my wedding review under the "Wedding Review" section and this is the message written on that forum: This Wedding Review section is closed to new Reviews. Please use the new review sections to post your reviews. Does anybody know where this 'new review section' is located so that I can post my review as well??? Thank you!!!

I just got married last month in Dominican Republic and I did my own makeup. I got a free professional makeup appointment at Shoppers Drugmart because I spent over $75 on their makeup products (mostly Dior and Lancome). The makeup looked great and stayed on the whole time. Plus, you get to keep the makeup which you can keep using for a long time! I couldnt take the risk of having my makeup done at the resort spa; Ive read too many scary stories about the products and techniques they use! Here is a pic of my face...hopefully you can get an idea of what my makeup looked like on my wedding day. I like the more heavier makeup look so it depends on the person...other like the more natural look! xoxo Bee

We got married Sept 10th 2010 at Dreams La Romana, Dominican Republic and this was our cake: Cake Topper was from Michaels while the flowers were real touch peonies which I ordered from Angels Accents!

Hi Ladies, I finally found some time to write up my review Quick Info -There were 40 of us in total. We had our wedding at the Gazebo; Cocktail hour on the Pier and the reception at the Sea Side Grill Deck. We stayed for 2 weeks and flew with Sunwing. Little tip about Sunwing- the plane does not have a closet so I had to put my dress in the overhead compartment. No worries though; the resort steams the dress as well as the suit for free and they do a really good job! Dreams La Romana: A Ill quickly provide you with a brief summary of the resort...Trip Advisor has enough reviews about DLR Both hubby and myself have been to several AI resort in the past, and I gotta say that you can def. feel the difference between a 4 star resort and a 5 star resort. Dreams La Romana was an amazing resort and all of our guests were extremely happy with it. The lobby was beautiful; the food was amazing; the rooms were beautiful and clean; the grounds were gorgeous; the service was top notch, etc. The only thing I could say was not that ‘amazing’ would be the beach....The water isn’t the cleanest and bluest Ive ever seen and the sand was not the greatest but it was still beautiful and we spent every single day for 2 weeks at the beach. WC: A All of my wedding planning/communication up until 2 weeks before the wedding had been with Tiara; however, Tiara was away on vacation on my wedding day so I was assigned to Yana. I met with Yana in the lobby on Wednesday morning (we arrived very late on Tuesday)...the meeting was quick; She had all of my info printed and we just reviewed the things I wanted for the wedding. I brought a lot of decorations down with me, and I dropped them off on Thursday in her office. I explained how I wanted everything to be set up and she did an amazing job at doing exactly what I had asked of her. What I loved about Yanna was the fact that I could reach her so easily....anytime I needed to get in touch with her, she was always available and ready to help out! She was also able to give us a big discount for our upgrade to a suite; usually it costs $100 extra per night and she was able to talk to reception to give us the suite for $300 for 5 nights; we did a lot of negotiating until we brought the price down and it worked out great! Just to quickly mention to those who were wondering if my vases made it...Unfortunately...only one out of the 5 made it so I could not use my original centerpieces...the ones the resort gave me weren’t that great and pretty pricey*sigh*....so for those who are thinking of taking their centerpieces in their luggage, I most def. would not recommend it!!! Ship them ahead of time....I wish I would have done that...they were absolutely gorgeous *tear* Spa: B None of us went to the spa except my mom; she got her hair done and it looked very nice; she was pretty happy with it but it didnt last the whole day! I got my hair done by one of my bridesmaids and I was extremely happy with it. I read a lot of bad reviews about them using too much hair product at the spa so I freaked out and I couldn’t take that chance...The rest of my bridesmaids also did their own hair and they looked beautiful! In regards to my nails, I got them done at a salon beside my house on Sunday and they stayed just as beautiful until my wedding day on Friday even though I was in the water constantly. For those of you wondering, I paid a little extra and got the gel nails. They last about 1.5 weeks beforfe they start growing out and eventually they start turning yellow and EWWWWWWWWWWWW I couldn’t wait to get them off....I didn’t have time to go to a salon to get them removed so I cut them off myself and then peeled them off.....that was painful and they ruined my real nails but I wanted them off ASAP! For a wedding they are well worth it, but never will I get them done again!! Elke: A I originally wanted Pastor Rick to perform my ceremony, but he was away on vacation on my wedding day. Tiara then agreed to perform my ceremony for me for free, however as I mentioned earlier, Tiara ended up having to go away on vacation on my wedding day as well. She recommended me Elke, who is the spa manager at DLR. She is actually from Austria, but moved to Dominican Republic and her English is great!!! The day before the wedding, I met with her at the spa because she wanted to make sure that she was correctly pronouncing some words in my script. Yanna mentioned that it would be great if I would tip Elke (did not matter how much) and my dad did on the wedding day after the ceremony was over. My dad also tipped Yanna and the servers who served us Champagne after the ceremony as well as the Trio Band who played at our cocktail hour. He also tipped the servers at my reception A LOT but I will talk about this once I tell you about my wedding reception. Anyway, Elke did an amazing job and I would totally recommend other brides to use her. HDC: A I booked HDC for both my photography and videography and I had them cover the wedding day from 3:00 p.m. until about 8:30 p.m. They were absolutely amazing to work with and my pictures came out beeaauuutiiiffulll!!! A few days later, Arnaud sent someone with a DVD of my pictures and I paid the amount I owed; That day, Arnaud e-mailed me, telling me how many pictures I had to choose...I did this within a few days and I e-mailed them back to him. In a couple of days, the same person met with me in the lobby where he gave me my printed pictures as well as my video. I would highly recommend hiring HDC! Music/DJ: A We actually did not hire a DJ. We rented a huge speaker from back home which we carried in a luggage as it weighed 20 Kg. We connected this to our Logitech iPod dock and played our music off my iPhone. Before getting to the resort, I signed up with grooveshark.com where I got all my music and then made different folders on my phone with music. i.e. One folder named “Music for guests waitingâ€, “Music for Bridesmaids walking down the isleâ€, “Music for Bride walking down the Isleâ€, etc I had one of my friends who is a DJ, just press play for each stage of the ceremony. For the reception, my DJ friend had brought some of his equipment from back home with him which he hooked up to our big speaker and iphone and he took care of introducing us; announcing and playing our first dance as well as the father and daughter dance. During dinner, we just had dinner music playing in the background which I downloaded off grooveshark as well (a lot of lounge/chillout Brazilian/French/Spanish music). The music for the rest of the night was again played off my iphone from my “Party Music†folder, and people went up to the phone and chose the different songs they liked. It didn’t sound bad as we had purchased something called “a mixer†which makes the songs flow nicely from one to another. Flowers: I got my flowers from Angel Accents -my bouquet as well as the 6 peonies which were placed on my cake. She did an amazing job!!!! My flowers looked gorgeous. Only thing I did not like was my hubby’s boutonniere; it was HUGE! I will post a picture of it when I have time! But this didn’t upset me at all; I just simply told Yanna I needed a pink orchid flower for him and she got him one If you want to book Angel Accents, you have to do it ahead of it as she only does about 5-6 orders per month and she gets booked up very fast! My flowers were ready in June 2010 and I had booked her in November of 2009. My Bouquet from Angel's Accents My Beautiful bouquet from Angels Accents Ceremony: A Just to quickly mention, a couple of months before my wedding, I told Arnaud (my photographer) that I want pictures of me getting ready in one room AS WELL as my hubby in another room and he said that this would not be a problem. The day before, I told Yanna that I wanted a suite for a couple of hours on my wedding day and she was able to do that for me for free. My hubby got ready in our room in building 7, while I got ready in building 8 in one of the suites.Thank you past brides who gave me this wonderful idea So my ceremony was supposed to be at 4:00 p.m., but we ran about 20-30 minutes behind as HDC was a little late (no biggie) and they also had to take pictures of the ladies getting ready; then had to run off to take pictures of the guys getting ready and then back again to our room for more pictures. On my wedding day, there were clouds in the sky but it was super sunny This was a huge relief as the weather was one of the most stressful things for me. In fact, the previous day, it had poured all day long so I was extremely stressed and sad but it all worked out in the end. Since I had gotten ready in building 8, it did not take me long to walk to the gazebo as buildings, 5, 6, 7 and 8 are very close to it. When I got to the ceremony site, Yanna instructed for my bridesmaids to start walking as soon as their song came on while I was hiding behind a few big tropical plants with my dad before it was my turn to walk down the isle. As soon as “Ave Maria†came on, I started getting all teary eyed and my dad and I started to walk slowly towards the gazebo. For those who are concerned about the gravel, don’t be; I found it very easy to walk on it. As I was walking down the isle, I noticed how beautifully Yanna had set up my gazebo with my pink lanterns; she had also set up my sand ceremony nicely. The ceremony took about 15-20 minutes in total. A little problem I encountered was with my sand ceremony; I wanted to have my sand poured into a picture frame (like the Umbra Ether one) but I searched everywhere for one, and at the time they were completely sold out! So I decided to buy my own picture frame and to make a hole at the top where the sand would be poured. As we started pouring the sand, it was going sooooo slow so after a few minutes we decided to stop pouring so we could continue the rest of the ceremony. So I never got to finish pouring all of the sand...but we’re going to do it again here at home LOL ahhh well.....its not a bigge at all! After we were pronounced husband and wife, we toasted champagne with all of our guests and then we took some pictures. Everything went well except for the fact that my best friend (maid of honor) ended up fainting as it was hot and she had not eaten all day. Her sister (bridesmaid) and her boyfriend took her to the medical center and she was able to attend the reception. My biggest regret is that she did not get a chance to be in many pictures but Im just glad she got better later on in the evening. Which reminds me; its worth mentioning that the medical center at DLR is amazing! Ive been to other AI resorts and the medical centers were filthy; however, the one at DLR is clean and their staff is very knowledgeable. Getting Ready Makeup time Putting on my Jewelry Hubby getting ready in building 7 Pictures in building 8 before the ceremony Me and Daddy before the ceremony My beautiful bridesmaids and I Walking towards the ceremony...I was very very nervous The guys before the Ceremony Hubby waiting for me in the Gazebo My Bridesmaids walking towards the Gazebo My beautifully decorated Gazebo My daddy walking me down the isle Daddy all emotional Exchanging vows So much pink Sand Ceremony Officially Hubby and Wifey Champagne after the ceremony The guys in the Gazebo The guys The guys and I Cocktail Hour: A ---> from what I heard from the guest After we took pictures as a group, my guests when on the Pier for cocktail hour, while I went off with my hubby to do our wedding photo shoot. Since I was busy taking pictures, I was not able to attend the cocktail hour. However, from what I heard, they had really delicious food (Sushi, veggie rolls, etc) and the drinks were also good. I also hired a Band to play live music which the guests enjoyed. I have some pictures from the cocktail hour off people’s camera..I will try to find them and I will post them here! Im sorry I don’t have more info on the cocktail hour; I wish I could have attended at least 5 minutes of it but the photo shoot took longer than I thought! Non-pro picture from the cocktail hour: My parents Non-pro pic from the cocktail hour: Daddy and the Trio Band Photoshoot of hubby and I while our guests were at the cocktail hour:

Hi ladies, Tonight..... Ive been working on typing up my wedding review and its almost done!!!!!!!!!!!! I will post it as soon as I finish it... Kisses and hugs xoxo Bee

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 Hi Ladies,  I just got back from Dreams last night at 2:00 a.m. I just wanted to quickly post some pics from the wedding...as I mentioned before, we hired HDC and I absolutely loooovveee the pictures!!! I will write the review very soon I promise  xoxo Bee                                      Â

Hi Ladies,  Its so late and Im about to pass out but I was just on the laptop sending HDC my choices of photos....they truly came out AMAZING and I cannot wait to post the pics as soon as I get a chance Im here for another week so Im super duper happy...this resort is incredible!!! I hope your planning is going well and I will try to write soon again!  p.s. Im a little (a lot) tipsy/drunk from the beer so I hope Im making sense right now lol  xoxo Bee

Hi ladies, Â I just wanted to quickly let you know that the wedding was so beautiful! I truly got really lucky with the weather which was the biggest stress for me.... Â Yanna did an amazing job w/ all the set up and HDC photography is amazing...I cant wait to get my pictures! Â I will write a review and post lots of pics when I get back! Â Hope your planning is going great! Â xoxo Bee

Hi ladies... I'm just in the car on my way to the airport,. I'm writing off my iPhone! Thank you all for your wonderful wishes!! I will have Internet so I will come back here and keep you updated! Kisses and hugs! Bee

Hey guys..1 more day to go and were off to DLR Â Quick questions for those who used lanterns in the gazebo...what did you use to hang them w/? Im using fishing wire...is tha what you ladies did? Â Â xoxo Bee

I decided to go with "You Raise Me Up" by Josh Groban.... I was getting worried about finding a song but Im so happy I did as I am getting married on this upcoming Friday (Sept.10) Â BDW has truly been a life saver!!!!!

I'm just gonna have to fo them Saturday and pray they don't totally grow out by Friday for the wedding.., dolfin luck, my MOH is also getting the gel nails dine! She said it's better as it won't damage your nails as much. Do you know if they would last longer than acrylic nails? Also, I'm having both photography and videography (HDC).. Do you guys know if I have to pay for two daypasses?? Xoxo Bee

Thanks so much for the weather wishes....  Katie...thanks so much for that contact!!! Im goona add her right now!  Dana...thank you for the Spa info....but I have a question for past brides....I see they have french manicures at the spa, but does anyone know if they are the acrylic/gel type of nails? As in, fake ones? Thats what Im looking for. I could do it in Canada, but the only day I have time would be Saturday...and my wedding is all the way on Friday which means my nails will start growing by then and you can see it at the root  If anyone has info, please let me know  Otherwise....I AM STRESSING with last minute details...  xoxo Bee  p.s. Nadia's wedding is tomorrow..... I only wish her the best!!!

Hi Hermosahoops...I dont really have time to do a planning thread....maybe when I get back I can put together the things I planned for the wedding?!?! Â Dolfinluck; I think $50 is a good price...Yanna also suggested for me to give Elke a tip which is fine with me as Pastor Rick would have costed me sooo much more! Â Anyway ladies...I am freaking out about that damn tropical storm/hurricane Earl which is heading for Dominican and Haitin this week....anyone has any news to share on this topic? Â xoxo Bee

I leave in a week so I had a quick question for past/future brides... Which is the best way to pay for the wedding things at DLR?? by visa; cheque; money? Gaby, I hope you have an amazing party this weeked I'll be creeping in your FB for pics lol Dana and Nancy, The idea of using a bag for my centerpiece is great! (just in case ... But I prraaayyy they will be ok!! Dolfinluck... Thank you so much fir the wishes.... Quick question... Did you tip Elke for performing your ceremony; if so....how much? Katie, thank you so much for the wishes! I can't believe that it's almost here.... Time really does fly by!!! Nadia, Once more, I hope you have an amazing wedding and I'll see you soon! Xoxo Bee

Hey Dana...I just got off the phone w/ the airline....this time they said that security probably wont allow glass as it can be used as a weapon...last time I spoke to them they said it should not be a problem...grrrrr But as the woman explained, its not up to the airline but the security at the airport Ahh well...Im just gonna wrap them up REEEAALLY well and pray for the best!!!! Im just trying not to stress right now

Hey Dana,  I just picked up my wedding dress yesterday  In regards to decorations, I did not ship anything down...Im distrubuting all of my stuff amongst my guests...I have to do that this week... For the centerpieces, I called Sunwing and asked them if I can take them as a carry on and they said yes...but I have no idea if I should risk it b/c they are glass and they might not let me onto the plane with them when I actually get to the airport....I bought bubble wrap just in case I decide to put them in luggages...and I pray to God they do not break So far...I have not decided 100% what Im doin with them. Im gonna call Sunwing again and double chek one more time w/ them.  xoxo Bee Â

Hi Krod100, Â You cannot transfer music from grooveshark to itunes; only if youre willing to buy the specific track from itunes (that is what my hubby told me) Â xoxo Bee Â

Uninspired1979...thank you soooo much I still have a few things to do so Im a little stressed but I cant wait to leave  xoxo

I remember now as well..it was Sunandsand....she posted it in her review and she said that she was amazing! YAAAY  Thanks Dana anyway  xoxo Bee

Has anyone used Elke Schwanda (Spa Manager) to perform their ceremony vows? Tiara is away on vacation on my wedding date and I was recommended Elke instead as her English is really good they say. Pls lemme know if any of you ladies used her! -Nadia.... Have an amazing time and I wish you lots and lots of sunshine! See you soon!

This is what Im doing for music:  I made an account at www.grooveshark.com to download music---> It costs $3/month of $30/year which is really cheap I will then transfer the songs onto my Iphone.   Then we will rent two big speakers which will will take with us as carry ons. We kno a place where it costs only $14/week to rent the speakers ; these speakers are really loud as I used them for our civil wedding celebration in the backyard! Im gonna attach the speakers to my Logitech Ipod Docking station which will play my music off my Iphone.  If anyone needs info on renting the speakers ( I live in Canada...Toronto) lemme know and I can ask my hubby the name of the company  xoxo Bee

Thank you so much ladies for the help!!!! It makes sense now gotta love this forum! xoxo Nadia, I'm so excited for you! For sure we will see each other I get there on the 7th and I'm staying for two weeks!

  Lemongrass - Beach Ball - Dinner Lemongrass - Belly Button - Dinner Lemongrass - Loving You - Dinner Lemongrass - Salon De Musique - Dinner Lemongrass - Habla Mi Corazon - Dinner Lemongrass - Ocean Kisses - Dinner Lemongrass - Dinner With You - Dinner Blue Mambo - Cafe Sin Leche - Dinner Gak Sato - Metti Una Sera A Cena - Dinner Jazzanova - Behold These Days - Dinner  OMG.....I CANNOT THANK YOU ENOUGH SgtPepperette!!!!!!!!!! I was going crazy trying to put together music for the dinner...I wanted something slow but still upbeat and you gave me the beeeeeeeeeeeeeest idea... Lounge music...OMG OMG OMG LOOOL I cannot thank you enough  If you have any other suggestions for artists or songs, etc that are loungy pls lemme know  Thank so x100000000000000000000 once again  xoxo Bee  xoxo