Julia Eskin

There are many beautiful off resort locations in Punta Cana!!! 

I've photographed weddings in many off resort venues in Punta Cana and the price really depends on the venue (if there is a fee to book the whole restaurant, etc.), number of guests, if you want open bar the whole night and all the extras in terms of entertainment. 
Feel free to e-mail me at [email protected] and I can give you the info for the wedding coordinator who works directly with most of the venues in Punta Cana.

Some options for the off resort weddings:

We travel to all areas in Dominican Republic! Feel free to e-mail us at [email protected]

Does anyone know if we can take our resort bracelets off on the wedding day? I'm trying to decide if I need a nice bracelet to cover the resort one or not.

 

Thanks for your help!

 

Jenn

Yes, you can take off the bracelet for the day of the wedding and get a new one at the front desk the next day.  Every one understands that you wouldn't want the plastic bracelet in all of your photos.

Hi Ladies!

We just booked Kukua for our July 11, 2015 wedding and couldn't be more excited. My fiance and I had the chance to go down to Punta Cana in April and see Kukua in person and meet with Bego. It is more beautiful that pictures can show and Bego is an absolute sweetheart. I'm so happy to get to work with her! We are SO excited.

 

I do have a question for any past/current brides--we are trying to decide if we should have the photographer/videographer come to the resort to capture us getting ready or if it makes more sense to hire someone for hair and makeup to come to Kukua. I know that I have seen some resorts charge a "vendor fee" for weddings (We will be staying at Majestic Elegance and it is $300.00 per vendor) but since we are just getting ready can we buy them a "day pass"? I hate to spend $600 to bring the videographer/photographer to the resort for an hour. If anyone has info on this we would GREATLY appreciate it!

 

Thanks so much! xo

I would ask your photographer! If you do have a local photographer, chances are you will have to pay the vendor fee, since a lot of the staff at the resorts know local photographers (especially Majestic being one of the most popular resorts for weddings)

From our experience, unfortunately two of our couples were required to pay the vendor fee even though they were not getting married at Majestic. 

It's best if you check with the resort directly too!

It depends on time of the year.  It gets dark early in the winter (around 6pm), so around 3.30 pm is perfect time for the ceremony so you have enough time for the photos after.  In the spring/summer it gets dark later (around 7pm) so 4-4.30 pm is great for the ceremony.

Hello everyone,

We are a team of two Canadian wedding photographers based in Punta Cana! If you are looking for a wedding photographer, feel free to e-mail me at [email protected]

Hello ladies,

We are a team of two Canadian photographers based in Punta Cana.  If you are still looking for a wedding photographer, feel free to e-mail me at [email protected]

We've shot a wedding at Kukua some time ago and it was absolutely gorgeous!  You check out the photos here:

http://www.juliaeskin.com/p122563168#h2d1bd0f2

Hi,

 

Does anybody knows the salon prices for hair and makeup.  I am staying there in October for my wedding , the  wedding is off the resort but I was thinking of doing hair and makeup in their salon for me and the bridesmaid.

 

Thank You

I had couple of brides get ready at the salon and everything turned out beautiful! The other option (I'm not sure if it's available if you are getting married off the resort but you can always ask:) is the bridal suite.  I'm not sure if you would have to pay extra for it, but worked out really great for some of my brides!

Definitely go with what you love!!!

And as for the trash the dress session, I've done so many of them and the brides even wore the same dresses to their at home receptions and the dresses looked like new.  Just make sure to rinse it well in the shower with tap water and hang to dry (dry clean once you get home).

Question for anyone who's ceremony (at NOW) has passed and they bought their photographer from home. Did the resort still charge the outside vendor fee even though the photographer is considered a "guest"....?????

I would e-mail the wedding coordinator and ask.  Usually if you are bringing the photographer from home, as from US or Canada (and not outside local photographer) and they stay at the hotel as part of your group, you don't have to pay the outside photographer fee.  Again, check with the wedding coordinator, so you have the answer in writing.

@@Julia Eskin that doesn't sound like a good idea. Do you know if they monitor the patrons? To ensure they don't crash your wedding?

They do monitor the patrons and because of the location of Jellyfish, it's highly unlikely that random people would show up and crash the wedding.

Of course renting out the whole restaurant is best, but if you have a tight budget, only having the bottom floor and the beach works out pretty good too (still much more private than any resort)

Past Jellyfish brides that only rented the bottom and beach out.... did randoms end up coming to eat at the restaurant upstairs and did it bother you?

Thanks

I'm not a bride but I've photographed weddings at Jellyfish that had only the bottom and the beach rented out and I don't think anyone really noticed people upstairs.  The area upstairs is a lot smaller too, so there are not that many people there anyways.

I've photographed weddings at both resorts and they are both gorgeous!

Dreams Palm Beach has a nice garden gazebo and Now Larimar has a nice gazebo by the fountains. 

The beach is beautiful at both resorts (probably a little wider at Now Larimar). 

It's a tough choice:)

They are both managed by the same company so the service and the amenities at both are great!

There are couple of options, but La Barcaza seems to be very popular as well as Catamaran Santa Maria. 

Hi Everyone!

 

I'm getting married at the Now Larimar on Jan 19,2015!!! I havent picked my locations yet becasue im a little bit torn. My time for the ceremony is 5:00 and im a little bit worried that we wont have enough time for pictures before the sun goes down. I dont want to see my fiance before our ceremony either. Just wondering if other brides had this problem. Also i'm not sure if we should have a wedding ceremony on the beach and reception by the pool or our ceremony by the fountains and our reception on the beach. So many decicsons! Any information on why you picked your spot would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks!!!!

If at all possible, having the ceremony even half an hour earlier will give you a little bit more time for photos.  If not, don't worry, I'm sure your photographer will do a great job, you can have some amazing shots right when the sun sets.  If you really want some daytime photos on the beach, it might be a great idea to book another session (or combine with trash the dress if you would like to do that) another day.  Otherwise, check with your photographer, I'm sure they will do their best to capture some beautiful moments for you!

Hello ladies,

We are two Canadian photographers based in Punta Cana and Majestic Elegance is one of our favourite resorts.  We've photographed number of weddings there, each and every one was amazing!

We still have some dates available in 2014 and now booking 2015 as well.  Feel free to check out our website www.juliaeskin.com or e-mail me at [email protected] if you are still looking for a photographer.

Any Paradisus brides still around?

 

My fiance and I were choosing our wedding destination between Punta Cana and Cancun. We SO badly wanted to Punta Cana, but only liked two resorts- Majestic Colonial and Paradisus Palma Real. Majestic didn't have any dates that would work, so we went to PPR. I started looking at all of the beach pics, and couldn't help but notice how much SEA GRASS is constantly on the beach and in the water. That was a huge turn off for me and figured it would be for our guests, too....

 

I am now starting to have regret. PPR is SUCH a beautiful resort and and Punta Cana in general is so much less commericialized than Cancun. I would give anything if PPR was set on a nicer part of the beach.

 

Has anyone else had any issues with the sea grass there? Literally every picture I look at, it looks like there's TONS of sea grass around.

It really depends on the day! They usually clean the sea grass every morning and sometimes during the day too.  However, some days you will get some sea grass and some days the beach is just perfect (no sea grass at all). There is really no way to predict unfortunately.  I used to live really close to PPR and walked on that beach every day.  The beach is very wide and long and the resort is gorgeous!

Hello ladies!

We are a team of two Canadian photographers based in Punta Cana! 

We've documented over 100 weddings at different resorts in Punta Cana as well as many weddings around the globe.

Feel free to check out our website www.juliaeskin.com or e-mail me at [email protected] if you have any questions!

Hello everyone. I am considering the Now Larimar for my destination wedding in March 2015. I am trying to decide between this resort and the Dreams Punta Cana. Any advice to help me decide?

 

Thanks.

I've photographed weddings at both resorts and both are really great!  

Now Larimar has a great beach, I think it's a little smaller resort as well.  

Dreams Punta Cana is beautiful too with gorgeous garden gazebo (doesn't matter if you are considering a beach ceremony).  The other thing to consider is the beach at Dreams Punta Cana has pretty big waves most of the time, while the one at Now Larimar is a lot quieter most of the year (depends on the season of course).  Only matters if you like to swim in the ocean. 

Hope this helps a little!

Hello ladies,

We are a team of two wedding photographers based in Punta Cana and available for bookings for 2014/2015.

Feel free to e-mail me if you are still looking for a wedding photographer!

Most of adults only resorts are part of bigger hotels.

The only one all inclusive that's completely adult only (it's brand new and I haven't been there yet:) is Breathless Punta Cana.

The most popular other ones are:

Iberostar Grand

Secrets Royal Beach

Paradisus Palma Real - Royal Service

Paradisus Punta Cana Royal Service

Riu Palace

Hello ladies,

I've added couple of galleries to my website with different off resort locations.

There are more different amazing venues around Punta Cana that I've been to and just didn't have a chance to shoot a wedding there yet.  So feel free to e-mail me for more info.

It does take a while, it can seem frustrating but take it all in stride. I'm getting married July 10th, 2014 and I actually was also engaged at DLR July 2013. I don't have many pictures of all the restaurants but I do have a pretty good memory if you have any questions.

 

For those of you who have already married, where did you get your hair done? I have a reservation at the spa to get my hair done but I haven't seen any examples from their spa. 

We've photographed couple of weddings at Dreams La Romana and they did pretty good job with the hair.  

Here is a blog post from a wedding that got ready at Dreams La Romana  (the wedding itself was held at Altos de Chavon) but all the ladies (bride and bridesmaids got their hair done at the spa)

http://www.juliaeskin.com/blog/2014/3/altos-de-chavon-wedding---kim-and-bryan

Feel free to e-mail me at [email protected] and I can send you more photos from other weddings and girls getting ready.

Hi there!

 

I know this thread was months ago, but I was wondering if anyone found out any information about pricing (food, decor, drinks etc...))

 

Would love to hear from you!!

Feel free to e-mail me at [email protected] and I can send you contact info for a wedding planner who deals with Huracan Cafe and other venues outside hotels.

As much as like wish lanterns they are fire hazard and since there is lots of vegetation all around and roofs made from dry palm leaves everywhere I think it's best to find the alternatives (we actually had a near accident with lanterns at one of the weddings, when the lantern fell into the dry jungle and almost started a fire, good thing it was really close to where the couple released it so one of the staff members jumped into the jungle and put it out)

Helium balloon release is an alternative as well as helium balloons with LED lights (I saw some online)

Sparklers also look great at night!