chell44

Originally Posted by Kris2012 

 

Hi ladies,

 

I was wondering for those of you who had the beach party, did you use the resort DJ or has anyone used DJ Mannia? Two photographers that I have spoken to (Phil Steingard and Jamie Dimity - our photographer) have recommended this company. The more I think about it, the more I'm inclined to use DJ Mannia but they quoted me $850 if I book by the end of August, a bit pricey but it might be worth it. Any info would be helpful if you've used either one.

 

Thanks!

Hello Kris,

what I did was had my husband burn 3 hours of music on a cd for the resort dj to play at the beach party, it ended up raining 3 songs in and the reception got moved so I just had the dj play his own music and told him the song I wanted as the last song. He's really good, he's the same dj in the club and we were at the club prior to the wedding so I felt comfortable with him playing his own stuff. He has a good range of music. If you do use the resort dj I would just make a cd for your first dance, father/daughter etc. Dj mannia is highly recommended and I fell in love once I went on his website but my husband refused to spend that much money. I have no regrets with the  resort dj. At our wedding I had him play alot of dance/techno and spanish music for my crowd but he has everything ranging from rock to oldies

Originally Posted by Kris2012 

 

Hi ladies,

 

I'm getting married on April 18th, 2012. I'm wondering what kind of photo package G.P. Punta Cana offers and who's taking the photos.

Also, to the brides who have been photographed by a separate company, what was the visitor's fee to have them come to the resort?

 

Thanks ladies...

they charge 60$ for a guest pass

Prices do not include shipping!

12   shout to go wipes                 6$

 7    2oz. aloe vera bottles            5$  SOLD

11   chapsticks                           5$  SOLD

 8    advils & 12 tylenol packs       6$  SOLD

5 natural touch bridesmaids bouquets  white roses, calla lillies and sterling (lavender) roses with crystals and lavender ribbon  30$ each  (2 are brand new never used)

2 natural touch orchid boutonnieres with aqua ribbon  3$ each

1 natural touch calla lilly boutonniere (no ribbon) brand new 3$

Hello Ladies!! we just got back everyone had a great time!!  Here's my review

Check-in: We were greeted with drinks and a cool towel. I was the first to arrive. we got there around noon, they told us they would get our room ready asap. It took about an hour which I thought was great. They took all of our bags and put tags on them with our room number, so we wouldn't have to lug them around. As we were waiting 3 groups from our party arrived, check in went smooth, no mess ups with any rooms. All of our guests were in the palace section. they kept mostly everyone close but our room was across the pool. We were close enough to everyone but still had our privacy. Ask for Domingo or Fernelis if you have any problems, they are great.

Rooms: We were in Bldg 93. we had a honeymoon suite. which basically is a loft suite but all the furniture and linens were white. Made me feel better for the pictures. The rest of my guests were in blg's 86 and 83. Some had loft suites and the others had standard rooms. They look exactly like the pics on the website. Some of them looked a little run down, some rust here and there on the sink and shower. But no one complained. Almost everyone had issues with their room phones. It's kind of hard keeping in touch with everyone. I wish I bought chalkboards or dry erase boards for all our doors, or walkie talkies.. lol 

Grounds: the grounds are well kept, very pretty.. Be careful when it rains the walk ways become very slippery, I wish I had sneakers with me. We did run into the grounds flooding a little bit at night but by morning all was dry.

Pools: we mostly stayed at the pool in the palace section by El Bohio, the swim up bar is there. One of the best bars, the bartenders are so much fun

Food: we typically ate breakfast at Los Torres, and lunch at La Uva. El Bohio serves lunch and we did eat there just because it was convenient but no one liked the food. The buffets are alot easier to eat at because if you don't time it right you could be eating dinner at 10pm. We ate at the Rodizio and loved it, the Japanese was our favorite. The mexican restaurant took forever and no one was impressed with the food. My suggestion if you want to eat a la carte, go at 6pm and make your reservation and you'll most likely eat around 7 ish..

The wedding!!

when we arrived we were told Carolina was on vacation and I would meet with Kenia, panic started to hit. But Kenia is great. we met with her the second day we were there, we picked the dinner menu, flowers and our breakfast for the next day. I gave her my centerpieces (show her how to arrange them), cake decoration, sand ceremony, fans and bubbles and my ceremony music. I had 8 people to a table at El Quijote restaurant. My ceremony was changed from 2 to 5 which I was so happy about

The day of the wedding, I was told to have my guests meet in the lobby and a train would pick them up. I'm assuming it worked because everyone was there..lol

I was called in my room and told when to come down, they had a golf cart decorated and brought myself and my wedding party to the gazebo

Everything was decorated the way I asked, sand ceremony made it there and my music was played correctly. Ceremony was great

we then had pics taken on the beach. We were told to be in the lobby by 6:15 for the train to bring us all to dinner. It was right on time. Dinner went well. we had the beef medallions with mashed potatoes and veggies. The wedding menu has changed so I would email and ask for the new one. The beef we got was suppose to come stuffed with ham and cheese but I asked without and it was fine, the beef comes breaded almost like a country fried steak. I didn't care for the breading so I took it off, some of my guests did as well but some liked it with the breading. Cake wasnt anything spectacular which I was anticipating. You have the option of chocolate or vanilla. I had the brownie for desert so I ordered vanilla. I brought cake boxes and had them cut the cake and put the slices in boxes for people to take back to the beach party or their rooms.. went fine. I did however have a guest bring my cake knife and server to the dinner because of past brides saying they didnt get theirs back. Dinner was an hour and a half. a train came to pick us up from the restaurant and brought us to the beach party. I gave the dj all my cd's. Yes I made 3 hours worth of music, I wasn't sure what kind of music they had so I did my own. It took the dj a little while to start our first song so we were standing there for a while but it was fine. We had ordered a dance floor for the beach party, DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY. we originally wanted the ones with the lights for 400 but it wasnt available so we got the one without for 200. It was a hot mess it was so small and it was just squares taped together and it was uneven.

so 3 songs into the wedding it poured so they moved our party inside to El Bohio, it was so much fun. after that I just had the dj play his own music. He has everything oldies, techno, dance, disco you name it he has it. We were at the disco the night before so I wasn't worried.  All in all everything was great.;.. Any questions please email me [email protected]

I have pics all over the place since I really didn't use my camera. so if you want you can request me on facebook to see some. oh yeah photos, we had HDC AMAZING!! The professional pics came out great.. waiting for my access code and I will share

Originally Posted by kitty25967 

 

I leave tomorrow!!  Yay!

Yay!! me too!!

Originally Posted by kitty25967 

 

Ok girls, so I leave next week! & I am trying to make sure I have budgeted everything out correctly.  For the private beach party.....am I correct in saying that it does NOT cost extra to have the party?  The extras will be open bar and dj correct but the party doesn't cost you anything????

As far as I know it's only the open bar and dj you pay for. But I'm pretty sure that in order to have the beach party you have to have the open bar. How long will you be there? I leave next week too but I will be in Santo Domingo for the first week then checking in June 4th. I was hoping to see the past 2 brides reviews before we left.. Good Luck, hope everything is beautiful! any idea how much they charge to steam the dresses?

Originally Posted by LP123 

 

Ladies, we are told 2 pm ceremony is the only time available for our chosen date.  Is this workable?  My concerns are it will too hot and then not sure what to do with all the time - go eat right away, have a gap and meet everyone for dinner and celebration later?  Or should we look for another resort.  Don't know what to do.  Please help!

 

Also a question on the beach party - with other weddings taking place on the same day, can there be several beach parties? Are they in different locations?

we are having our ceremony at 2 as well. It has nothing to do with the resort, times are set according to the judges schedule. So if you switch resorts you might run into the same problem. This was a major concern for me too.  Not sure where you plan on having your ceremony, but the gazebo does provide some shade. But I figured the ceremony is 15 mins and I'm doing a sand ceremony so that would add on another 10, then they do the champagne toast and then pictures. I have my photographer until 4pm, dinner usually starts around 6 so it's only two hours, you could do a cocktail hour if you want. We decided to give everyone an hour to freshen up and then meet at a bar for cocktails. As far as the beach party, I was told they allow two at a time but they are on opposite sides of the beach. I was so stressed about the ceremony time for a long time and then just sucked it up eventually. Good luck

Originally Posted by kitty25967 

 

Girls!  Need help quick...My fiance and I are staying in DR for 9 days with the wedding being somewhat in the mid point.  We are considering switching from The GP to the Majestic Elegance after the wedding to have a change of scenery for more of a 'honeymoon" feel since some guest are staying at the GP the whole time.  Is anyone else doing this?  Is this a good thing or too much of a hassle?  Thoughts please...

I considered switching resorts also. we decided no to, figuring it would just be more of a hassle. What part of the resort are you staying in? if your guests are staying in the palace/punta cana or bavaro section maybe you could just switch to the royal suites

that's a relief, a previous bride posted pics of her beach party but it looked so dark. what time did your dinner start? the dj is for 3 hours right? I'm bringing all of my own music so I want to make sure I have enough.

Originally Posted by mellibelli 

 

Here's our review. We were married April 11, 2011 in the gazebo just off the beach. I have absolutely no complaints when it comes to the wedding planning and wedding day.

When we checked in we were giving a folder and inside was a letter from Carolina welcoming us and telling us what time and where we would be meeting the next day. So no stress there. Next morning we went to the bavaro side, the wedding section is right by the sports bar. We met with Carolina and in less then an hour everything was planned and organized. Our ceremony was set for 330 which was a perfect time, pictures were beautiful and weather was gorgeous! Carolina basically said the spanish restaurant is open for your dinner, we had 19 people so no private reception which was fine because we choose to have a beach dance party. For food we had one of the pasta's so an appetizer which was really good, beef medallion which was amazing! They were cooked between medium to medium well a few were rare but no one complained. For dessert we did the chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream....this was amazing! By far the best dessert we had in the two weeks we were there. If you like chocolate I highly recommend this it was moist and mouth watering. A side note the chocolate lasagna is nasty! You can get it at the italian restaurant as dessert and some people in our group took one bite pushed it away and a couple we sat next to another time didn't eat it either the layers between the chocolate you couldn't even cut. We then had the wedding cake which most people were way to stuffed to eat. We did half chocolate half vanilla. It's a nice light cake and very tasty, the left overs we had the waiters hand out to the other guests in the restaurant so it wouldn't be wasted. We had given Carolina our cake topper, favors, knife and napkins the day before the wedding when they came to pick up my dress to steam. She had everything set out and organized for us when we got to the reception. It looked beautiful. When we met with Carolina we also got offered chicken nuggest and fries for the kid and we had a vegetarian so there was a vegetarian menu to pick an entree off of.

My color was purple and she does have purple decorations for the gazebo and chairs, looked amazing!

Next my flowers, they were absolutely beautiful! My bouquet and john's bountineer were included but I got 2 bridesmaid bouquets, 3 boutineers(groomsmen and my dad) and 2 wrist corsages for the mom's. For the extra flowers you have to pay cash so Carolina pays the florist. It was $135 for all the extras but sooo worth it, they were truly beautiful. My flowers also lasted all night and dried beautifully. They were brought to my room the morning of our wedding with my wedding dress after being steamed.

I had my hair done at the spa it was $120 but looked amazing and with the wind and humidity it held up great. I didn't have to worry about my hair all day/night, they use a lot of product but it is needed especially for pics on the beach and the wind. It looked perfect in every photo. One of my bridesmaids got her hair done there too and put flowers in her hair for free then gave us extra flowers for the other bridesmaid and flower girl. You have to put your deposit down a head of time but Carolina discusses that with you at your first meeting and books your hair appointment too. My friend did my make up but it's a full spa, they do everything.

So after the dinner(your at the restaurant 2 hrs) the train picked up all up and took us to our beach party. This was so worth the money, I highly recommend this. We used their dj and he had a huge assortment of new and old music that everyone could dance too. We only brought the cd for the first dance, father/daughter, mother/son and parents dance. The rest he did and we danced  the whole time, we also had the dj and waiter dancing with us they were such nice guys. It was a little chilly because its right on the beach and it was windy but anyone who was dancing was hot. I told people to go change if they wanted because the beach party is really close to the palace and was walking distant to the rooms. I was really hot but I'd walk towards the ocean and lift up my dress to get a nice breeze, there are some hilarious pictures of me getting caught doing this. Almost everyone said the dance party was the most fun and you get your own waiter and private bar. The bathroom is by La Uva restaurant. The dance party finished close to midnight then we headed to the palace lobby for drinks and some people went to bed others partied.

My only complaint is that out of 19 of us, 5 weren't upgraded to the Royal Suites. They were at the palace, they had nice rooms and beach front but they were not allowed on the royal suites side. Everyone paid the same rate but the RST guests were treated better and I didn't agree with that. The reason there are so many upgrades is the palace is greatly over booked, they told us it was 120% booked. There was another wedding group which was all adults and some of their guests weren't upgraded to the RST. Both groups were talking(we had the same amount of guest) and it just didn't make sense why they wouldn't of upgraded their whole group being adults and not ours since we had a kid, that way everyone would of been together. Palace and RST are close to eachother but Palce guests couldn't go to the RST side. When we were checking in I was arguing that I didn't want us split up that I wanted everyone at the same resort, the staff at the reception wouldn't listen to me just blew me off. Telling me RST much better and nicer, but I didn't care. They had a bell boy come and shuffle us to the golf cart to go to our room. I was upset even though yes RST you have a butler in your building, free beach towles, free rides all over the resort, wifi in rooms except for building 5805-5812, free internet in lobby, your own pools and beach area. You dont have to fight for lounge chairs and your almost always the only people in the pool. I just felt bad that everyone paid the same rate but some got treated better. I guess some people wouldn't care about that but it bothered me.

So John and I got upgraded to a honeymoon suite on the RST, it was beautiful. All white linen, two balconies, huge bathroom with jacuzzi tub and 18 nozzle shower which was also a steam room. When we got there the bell boy brought us a fruit tray and a bottle of rum. Now the wall in the bedroom had wires coming out and looked like a tv should of been there so we told the butler but no big deal I didn't plan on watching tv. Our jacuzzi tub also didn't work no button for the jets, took about 4 days to get that fixed. Our phone let us call out but no one could call our room, which was a huge hassel for making dinner plans and carolina was going to call the day of the wedding to tell us when the butler would be coming to pick us up. We complained for 4 days, finally on the wedding day I call the reception and I said "Our phone doesn't work, fix it now"!. The guy said okay I'll get it fixed. Within 30 minutes a guy showed up with a new phone and had someone call our room to make sure it worked, I gave him a big tip and thanked him. But I shouldn't of had to be rude to get it done but really with other issues we had with rooms we had to be rude to get stuff fixed. So everything in our room finally worked and it's time for our second week where we were booked at the RST for the honeymoon. A few days before I asked if we were going to be moved, they told us we would have to come that morning and find out. So we had to move, to stay in that room they wanted to charge us an extra $500 for the week and it wasn't worth it. So we had to pack up bring our bags to the lobby and wait for a room to be ready. We paid an extra $100 for a swim up room. Once we got to our new room first thing is it STUNK! The people before must of smoked like chimneys, I had a small bottle of frebreeze but it didn't improve the smell. But whatever. We went to dinner came back and there was a puddle of water on our bathroom counter and I asked John why he left such a mess but turned out there was water dripping from our ceiling onto the bathroom sink and into the jacuzzi. John lifted the ceiling tile to investigate thinking it was the air conditioner. Turns out there was an older leak they had fixed by wrapping electrical tape around it and it was leaking through the tape. The worst part was that it was toilet water leaking onto the bathroon counter where our tooth brushes would of been. John took pictures and went to the reception and showed him the pictures and said "We want a new room, this is unexceptable" So we were moved to another room which didn't smell like smoke but the jacuzzi didn't work and the mirror was smashed so we got that all addressed and the rest of the week was great. We did notice they put another couple in that room with the toilet water dripping but they also didn't stay in that room long. We spent tons of time in the swim up pool and suntanning. A waitress would come and ask us if we wanted drinks or food then walk around to deliver it to us.

The food was great, really no complaints there. The room service breakfast was good but I dont recommend ordering toast, a few times it was so hard you couldn't bite it. Some days it wasn't even toasted just bread. Orange juice is tang not actual orange juice.

The staff were awesome, very friendly and fun. They work 24-25 days a month with 5-6 days off, you will see them at breakfast and again at supper. They get a 2 hrs break in the afternoon and only about 3-4hrs sleep at night. Yet they are still happy, friendly and smiling. We spent most of our money tipping, probably more on tips then the wedding package.

The grounds are beautiful and very well taken care of. Mosquitos were bad in the evening and they are so tiny you don't even notice their biting you until they start itching. Damn ankle biters...lol I was so glad I brought a tube of afterbite b/c some nights the bites were so itchy we couldn't sleep. They are nothing like north american mosquito bites they blister and ooze for a few days. We've been home a few days and they still itch at times. They only got bad after the rain, if it's dry they aren't to bad.

Bring tons of sunscreen because it's crazy expensive there if you run out, my aunt paid $35 for one bottle. We would of ran out but people leaving after the first week gave us theirs. We went through about 4 bottles.

We did an ocean spa excursion, all the women went and it was amazing I highly recommend it. We went the afternoon on the day before the wedding and it was incredible. John and I parasailed, some went on a safari tour and loved it. Others did quading and dune buggies. 7 went deep sea fishing but 3 of them spent the whole time puking their guts out and they ended the trip early. If you have people wanting to deep sea fish or do excursions book with the people in the hotel lobby or at the dive center on the resort. Your likely not to get riped off and get what you paid for.

For all the wedding stuff you can use credit cards except for any extras. The beach party, wedding package, photographer pass and dress steaming was all charge to our room and then we just paid it with visa before the wedding day.

We hired HDC photography, Arnaud one of the owners did our pictures and they turned out so good. They are amazing, he did a fantastic job and his service was incredible not to mention he had the best price I could find. Carolina also called him the morning we met with her so I could talk to him and decide a time for him to come to my room when we were getting ready. The friday after the wedding we met with him in the lobby so he could show us the pics and then we choose which picked we wanted printed and by 4pm that day the dvd of pics, slide show and prints were at the reception for us to pick up. They are breath taking photos and continue to remind me of what a perfect beauitiful day it was. Now there were of course people on the beach trying to get in our pictures or standing and watching to close. Also the rude people who didn't care you were taking pictures and would walk in front or behind us. There was also lots of nice people who came up to congratulate us on the beach and at dinner.

I think I covered everything but if you have any questions ask away. Just remember to relax and enjoy every minute of it. I wasn't stressed once I met with Carolina, she was amazing. I spent the days before the wedding on beach or at the pool with my friends and family. I hope you all have as wonderful of a time as we did. Oh I forgot the weather was perfect, we had a rain storm one night and other then that it was hot and sunny with a few scattered clouds. Dont trust the weather forecasts they were wrong everytime. It forecasted it would rain our whole second week and it didn't rain once.

Melissa

Melissa,

sounds like everything was great, except for the room issues. seems like the conditions of the rooms have been a problem, not the first time I've heard complaints. As far as the beach party, how was the lighting? from other brides pictures it seems so dark. Did you bring your own centerpieces? I feel like I'm going to give Carolina so much stuff and something will get lost in the shuffle.  will you post some pics?!

 no problem at all! what size do you want and how much do you want to spend?

when is your wedding? If it is after mine I could look for one while I'm down there. I'll be in santo domingo for a week then punta cana. I'm back June 7th

that's such a great idea!! I went on a search this is what I found

http://www.art.com/products/p14550342-sa-i3062145/map-of-dominican-republic-caribbean.htm

Originally Posted by isa2214 

 

Hey everyone,

I just came back yesturday from our wedding and honeymoon.  I got married on April 5 and it was beautiful.  I just wanted to say to all my group was upgraded to the Royal Suites too and it was AMAZING.  All 27 of my guests enjoyed the extra services, free internet, private pools and butler service.  No one had any issues with the rooms has they are really beautiful.  Some other guests that didn't book in our wedding group said they had nice rooms too but nothing compare to the ones they saw in the Royal.  I dont think it was an issue for meeting the people staying at the Palace, our group seems to have this meeting place so no one was ever left out.  We were really grateful to be upgraded and wouldn't have change anything about it.

The wedding was great really beautiful, we had a semi-private dinner at Le Arrecife and it was great.  I didn't even notice there were other people in the restaurant.  We then had the beach party.  It was the BEST part of the day and so worth it.  It is expensive, I paid $720 for 35 guests, but seeing everyone up and dancing and having a blast, it made us so happy and glad we did it.  So anyone not sure about doing this, please do it, you wont regret it.

We paid the wedding package by credit card.  I dont know about flowers or hair as I brought my own flowers and did my own hair.

For HDC I had prepare a money order before I left for the exact amount, I think that was the best way to go.

I will try to get a full review soon, but if you have questions in the meantime, just ask

so glad you had a great day!  the 720$ for the beach party, are you including the dj in that price? and what did you do about music did you bring your own cd's/ ipod?

Originally Posted by natalie1987 

 

 

 

 

she emailed me two weeks ago and asked me my guests names that will be at the wedding my wedding date is april 30...maybe she does it by wedding month

 

Just curious, did she say why she needed all of your guests names?

Originally Posted by richarsd 

 

Actually Air Transat gives the bride and groom not an extra 10 lbs, but 10 extra KG EACH (which is actually an extra 22 lbs each), plus the 10 kg for the carry-on. Love Air Transat for this!!! So because of this, my fiance and I have managed to pack all our clothes, shoes, toilettries and whatnot for 2 weeks AND all the wedding decor ourselves!! Yay! I was a little worried about that initially, too. I was planning on pawning a bunch of decor off onto family members.

 

We are all packed and leave tomorrow!! Can't wait!!! Sunshine and marital bliss here I come! I'll be sure to post pics and a detailed review when we get back in 2 weeks! All of you take care!!

 

 

 

 

Have fun!! Hope everything turns out great

Hey ladies, does anyone know what the vegetarian meal is that they serve?

Hello ladies! Just wanted to let everyone know, I was talking to Carolina today and she did say that to have the beach party you must have a minimum of 20 guests. I know we all discussed it before and people were in a panic, just passing along the info

Congrats Sheila!! I'm glad everything was great! Do you have any pics of the beach party?

Originally Posted by kitty25967 

 

Also, I can't find the page(s) on this thread where the suggested menu options were discussed.  I remember seeing it, but the thread is so long now, I can't find it.  ....I think someone mentioned beef medallions as being a favorite???  I would like to go ahead and plan this with Carolina so I can get my menu cards printed & get those out of the way.

I had copied this when it was posted on this thread....

Appetizers:

- Onion Soup - all good reviews (one bride said it was the best she ever had)

- Minestrone - unknown

- pasta (with shrimp, etc) - unknown

- lobster bisque - unknown

- Ceasar salad - all good reviews

- Caprese salad - all good reviews

- mastocholli - unknown

- caneloni - unknown

Main course:

- T-bone - mixed reviews

- beef medallions - all good reviews (by far this is the most popular choice too based on previous posts)

- stuffed chicken breast - unknown

- chicken tettrazini - mixed reviews

- beef milanese parmesan - mixed reviews

- loin of pork - unknown (I really want to try this though. Pork for some reason doesn't seem to be a popular choice but this is what I'm leaning towards. I like that it comes with roasted veggies!)

- salmon fillet - unknown

- grilled bass - unknown

Dessert:

- Tiramisu - mixed reviews

- chocolate lazagna - mixed reviews (one girls thought it was "odd")

- chocolate bomb - unknown

- chocolate brownie - all good reviews (seems to be most popular)

- apple puffed pasty - unknown

hello ladies! the cards are in PM me your address'

Originally Posted by AshleyTX 

 

I would like 50 please!

 

Thanks, Ashley

Ashley, I will email you as well as soon as I receive them

Originally Posted by MandyP 

 

Hello,

 

Yes i would love to have some if you still have them!

 

I would need 30!

 

Let me know,

 

Thanks,

 

Mandy

 

[email protected]

Hi Mandy, they will be in by the end of the month, I will email you once I receive them, shipping shouldn't be much I think I would be able to put 30 in a regular envelope

Originally Posted by sheila2011 

 

You're welcome tomato! And I think the sunset pictures will be worth it!

 

She hasn't confirmed the reception time with me yet but I will find out next week when I get there! I will come back here and answer your questions then! I am so excited!

Sheila, I'm so excited for you!! wishing you a beautiful day!