welljen

Hi there,

Not sure what fees you are talking about. We paid by credit card, it was the easiest option - not to mention the fact that if there was an issue you would have the credit card company able to advocate on your behalf.

Hi Webbie,

Unfortunately, they have already been sold - otherwise I would have totally sold them to you separately.

Sorry.

Jenn

Originally Posted by welljen 

 

 

 

 

Hi Bride2012,

It was only supposed to be active for 60 days after our wedding, which was May 5th. I've sent a message to Arnaud at HDC and asked him to extend the availability of the gallery. I'll let you know once it's been done.

J

 

Hey Bride2012,

The link is back up. Enjoy!

Jenn

 

Originally Posted by Bride2012 

 

welljenn i tried to view your photos, it keeps saying it is expired. is there a way to view them?

Hi Bride2012,

It was only supposed to be active for 60 days after our wedding, which was May 5th. I've sent a message to Arnaud at HDC and asked him to extend the availability of the gallery. I'll let you know once it's been done.

J

Originally Posted by Amber 5678 

 

Hey Jen!

Did you have a choice as far as what color you wanted the flower petals to be? It seems like a lot of people had red, but I really want white. I have no problem bringing my own if I need to, especially if they don't put out too much. Carolina also sent me bouquet pics- it was like 2 pages worth of samples. Is that really the whole selection you have to choose from? Someone earlier on here mentioned there was a book they went through to make their flower selections. How were their centerpiece choices? (thanks for all of your input by the way!)

 

Ska- I am so excited for you!!!! You will have to let us know how the weather is while you are there- I am getting married Nov 2012 and I based that decision on hurricaine season being over as well. Plus everyone will be dying for warm weather as it gets colder around here!

You might be able to choose the colours for the flower petals, but I didn't really ask. It was a mixture of white and pinks - and to be honest with so many other things to worry about I figured this was the least of my worries.

As for the bouquet options, I think I had the same 2 page Word document from my wedding coordinator, but when we got there they had a book with tons more options.

As for the centrepieces, we decided to maximize things and just reused the floral decorations for the gazebo as our centrepieces. There were like 6 or 7 floral arrangements and we only needed 5 for our centrepieces. I only found out about this when I got there, as we had planned to make our own centrepieces, using sand, seashells and glass beads; thank goodness another bride that was waiting to speak to her WC told us about this option. Again, one more thing we could cross off our list!

J

Originally Posted by Amber 5678 

 

Hi there Jump1012! It always takes a while to get a response back from WCs. I was told that I would be able to make my hair and makeup appointment the week of the wedding. That being said though, I will contact the spa directly when it gets closer and see if they will let me schedule it. (I'm not getting married until Nov 2012)

 

Jen- thanks! I have read so many times on here "why do people have a destination wedding and not get married on the beach- that's the whole point". I totally get why people say that, but I really want to wear heels with my dress, as funny as that sounds! I really love the gazebo too, it just looks so breathtaking in pictures. Btw, did you have the fabric put on the gazebo for your ceremony?

~Amber

Hey Amber,

I also wanted to wear heels with my dress, so that was also a big reason for me to do it in the gazebo. Also as a bit of a control freak, I just didn't like the unpredictability of a beach ceremony, although I was all for our photos being taken at the beach. Since I think the relaxed vibe and beautiful scenery helped us relax, and helped make our photos turn out great - or at least we thought so!

 The fabirc was already up the day we arrived so I think it was there for all of the weddings that week, although we did pay for the gazebo decorations which included the flower arrangements, chair covers and flower petals down the aisle.

J

Originally Posted by spaterson 

 

Welljen - Thank you! Your pictures are amazing!!! Amazing!!!

No problem, I'm happy to help out. Goodness knows that this forum was a huge help during my planning. So I am more than happy to spread the wealth!

J

Originally Posted by Amber 5678 

 

I Wen and welcome! We are having our wedding ceremony at the gazebo! I am probably the only destination bride out there that was looking for a resort that had non-beach ceremony options, and I thought that Dreams was by far the prettiest with the gazebo.

 

Ska, thanks for the OOT bag info- and it was great that you included the links to everything that you bought! Its so nice to get some great ideas!

Hey Amber, 

That isn't all that strange. I really wanted our ceremony in the gazebo as well. We had been at another destination wedding and they were married on the beach, although nice I knew that I didn't want me (or my guests) for that matter having to be barefoot and in their wedding day finest!

As an aside, when we were down there for our wedding there were a few brides that changed their minds from the beach ceremony to the gazebo, since they didn't want to have to contend with the wind down by the beach.

Happy planning!

J

Hey Melissa,

I had some of the same concerns as you did before my wedding on May 5, 2011, but mine were more about the ceremony itself. I had read the negative reviews on TripAdvisor and the like, but I find that most of the reviews are quite polarizing, or just from people that have unrealistic expectations of what their vacation will be - they are typically people that don't travel very much so they have no frame of reference (and this may sound a bit elitist, but I don't think that travelling to an all-inclusive vacation once or twice a year qualifies you as an experienced traveller.)

As for the food it was excellent. So many options for everyone at the buffet and the a la carte restaurants were good, with the Seaside Grill and the Mexican being two of our favourites. Now I don't know what the AC issue is, but when we were there we didn't hear any complaints about that. The only issue that I had been aware of before we went, had to do with a musty odor in some of the rooms - although our feeling was that it was likely the typical musty odor that is usually found in a humid, tropical climates. 

There was only one guest that had a complaint about a musty smell in the room - but it was someone that is a known complainer and once they raised the issue to the staff they were moved to another room the next day.

As soon as we arrived our minds were quickly put at ease. We were fortunate to have 42 people, plus me and my fiance that joined us so we had the private reception following our ceremony - we just figured that with people paying at least $1400 per person, the least we could do was treat them to a private dinner (yeah, I know you'll read posts from people that believe they should have to pay, since they already paid the all-inclusive - but we just felt it was the decent thing to do).

After our dinner, we didn't have too much time for a lot of dancing, but rather than pay for the extra time we moved over to the disco, which was great since it gave those that aren't big dancers, or were just tired, the opportunity to head back to their rooms without it being a big deal. 

We ended up using an outside photographer, HDC, but you may want to check with your WC to see if the resort will still allow you to do so, since there was some talk a few months again that they weren't going to allow brides to do so unless they had booked their photographer before the end of February. If they do, I can't recommend HDC enough - their work was amazing!!

Hope this helps!
J

Originally Posted by Melissa727 

*CALLING ALL DREAMS PUNTA CANA BRIDES-I'M FREAKING OUT!*

 

OK so it's been a while since I have posted mainly because I'm so stressed out with the wedding I don't have the time or energy to write. My wedding is November 4, 2011 at Dreams Punta Cana. We originally invited 30 people and only 8 are coming so far. We are still waiting on responses from 4 couples but even if they all come we will only have a total of 16 people (18 including my fiance & I). That being said we are trying to decide if we will do the 3 hour reception or just go with the basic ceremony/cake/champagne toast then go to a dinner at one of the restaurants then just head to the club at the resort. Has anybody or is anybody planning not to have a reception?

 

For those of you using/used an outside photographer, were they able to come to the resort before the wedding day to meet w/you or did they have to pay a fee to come onto the resort? Also for those of you who have already gotten married there, how was your experience with your wedding coordinator & how did the wedding flow? Was it stressful?

 

I keep seeing bad reviews online, not only of weddings but just of regular vacations. I'm really starting to worry about choosing this resort. On top of that all of my guests are seeing the bad reviews as well. Their main concerns are the AC issue & the food/digestive problems. For those of you who have been to Dreams before or have already been married there, how true are these reviews? Is it just a few incidents or did you experience the same problems?

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

Originally Posted by spaterson 

 

Debating on who to use! I love Photosouvenior and HDC! Although we get a much better rate if we use the in house photographer at the Dream Palm Beach. Has anyone use the in house photographer?

Hey spaterson, 

We used HDC, and besides the fact that their prices are fantastic! Only $775 for 340 high-res photos, 100 5x7 prints and slideshow (which we showed at our at-home reception last weekend)

We were really, really happy with our photos and our friends and family are still raving about them. We didn't really want the super staged photos either. We only had them take photos of the bride and groom getting ready, the ceremony and then photos of us and the wedding party. We decided not to have them also stick around for the reception, speeches and dances - primarily because we knew that with 42 of our family and friends there we'd be covered (Not to mention, that generally I find those photos to be some of the least interesting ones.

Anyway, if you would like to take a look at our photos they also set up an online portal on the HDC website for you to view your photos and to share them with your family and friends. Here is the information if you would like to take a look at our photos:

website: http://www.hdcphoto.com/

username:ngaiandjennifer

password:dreams

When you get to the website home page, you will need to click on the heading that says: 'Customer Access'. There you will see a login screen where you can enter the username and password above. It will take you to our page and then you can click on the Photo Gallery link below our photo.

If you have any more questions, just ask!

J

Originally Posted by deannamarie85 

 

 

 

Yes we have bought a projector and plan on doing a short 5-min slideshow of all our professional photos!

 

 

Hey deanna,

Just wondering when are you planning to show your slideshow. I am finalizing the timeline and trying to determine when is the best time to do this.

Thanks!

J

Originally Posted by letluva5412 

 

 

 

Thanks so much Jenn!  That really helped us with our decision.  I spoke with my FI and we opted not to do a cocktail hour.  What time did you have your reception start on your invites?

 

 

Hey letluva,

We simply said had reception to follow ceremony, so it was pretty open

J

Originally Posted by letluva5412 

 

Have any past brides had a late wedding ceremony?  Ours is taking place at 6pm so we're contemplating of having a cocktail hour so our guests can be entertained while we take photos. I'm really against seeing the groom prior the ceremony.  Any advice?  Is the cocktail hour a waste of money?  Should I just have the ceremony and then a reception time and leave the guests to do their own thing in between? 

Hey letluca,

I had a late wedding ceremony as well, it was at 6 pm. We were thinking of having a cocktail hour to entertain our guests, but decided against it a few months before. Also, just wanted to preface that we are not particularly cheap people, so that wasn't our only reason for not having the cocktail hour - just practical )

In hindsight, I am so glad that we did, because our ceremony was delayed by about 10-15 minutes because the groom in the 5pm wedding had a panic attack and fainted!! Fortunately, we had a civil ceremony so we made up a bit of time, but in order to take advantage of as much sunlight as possible we had to motor down to the beach for our bride and groom photos (we had thought we would do our pics with family and friends first and then take our bride and groom pics afterwards).

Our pictures only took about 30 minutes and then as the light disappeared we headed back to the lobby to take some great shots with family and friends, using the grand staircase in the lobby as a backdrop.

So all of that was to say, that because of the sudden change in plans we were very glad we hadn't paid for the hour of cocktails, which our guests probably only would have had about 20-30 minutes of. Also, I think that most of the guests welcomed the mini break as an opportunity to freshen up in their room or to grab a drink from one of the hotel bars. 

I guess the reality is, that unlike a wedding at home where guests likely don't have enough time to go home after the ceremony and before the reception, the rationale for a cocktail reception is really there.

Happy planning,

Jenn

Originally Posted by weddingaway 

 

Interested in the turquoise sashes if they are still available.

Hi there,

Sorry the sashes have been spoken for. I ordered them from this website and even with the ridiculous shipping costs to Canada, they were still a lot more reasonable than renting them from the resort: http://www.efavormart.com/index.aspx

Good luck with the rest of your wedding planning.

I

Originally Posted by angieinthesun11 

 

I'm confused! I thought that at Dreams PC there was only one wedding per day!? There was another wedding before yours??

Hey Angie,

Not sure where you may have heard that from, but Dreams has a max of 3 weddings per day. That's way they have 3 locations (and 3 ballrooms if weather doesn't cooperate).

Jenn

Hi Raq,

That is exactly what we did, we went with the lowest package and then added things on as we wanted. We figured we wouldn't have used half of the things in the Ultimate package.

As for the cocktail hour, we also wavered about doing it until deciding against it. And we were certainly glad we did, since our wedding ceremony was delayed by about 20 minutes because the groom in the wedding before ours had a panic attack. Thankfully we didn't have the cocktail hour as it would have been a huge waste of money, since after the ceremony we basically had to beeline it for the beach for our photos so we could take advantage of the daylight.

Thanks ladies. I think it was also easier to ensure they got the same clothing. The groomsmens clothes were from the Gap and RW &Co, so after they had met once to agree on the fit, all we had to do was make sure they all had the right item numbers for each item and they could pick up the shirt and pants on their own.

J

Originally Posted by welljen 

 

Hello ladies,

After months of planning and stressing my wedding day has come and gone.  Everything went even better than we expected, so now we are left asking ourselves what to do with everything!!

 

I am looking to sell some of the extra items that we planned to use in the decor for our reception. We didn't use all of the lanterns that I had purchased, so I've indicated the quantities that are still packaged and those that are out of their packaging. Our wedding colours were turquoise and orange, and all items are in that same colour palette. Below is the list of items and asking prices:

 

Paper Lanterns ($30; plus shipping)

Orange 10"- 9 New in Bag; 2 Out of Bag

Orange 12" - 4 New in Bag; 2 Out of Bag

Turquiose 10" - 8 New in Bag; 1 Out of Bag

Turquiose 12" - 2 New in Bag; 4 Out of Bag

Royal Blue 10" - 1 New in Bag

Royal Blue 12" - 1 New in Bag

 

Organza Chair Sashes ($40; plus shipping)

Turquoise = 24

Orange = 20

Royal Blue = 40

 

LED Throwies

Throwies with On/Off switch = 30 ($10; plus shipping)

 

 

Let me know if you are interested in one or all of these, please let me know.

Jenn

 

Hi ladies,

Just a quick note to say that the LED Throwies are sold!

Originally Posted by mbowling 

 

Hi everyone,

 

I have been leaning towards having my FI and groomsmen in khaki style pants and white shirts, but am not sure if I should have FI in something different than the rest of the men? What is everyone else doing?

Hey mbowling,

My fiance (now husband) wore a tan suit, while his groomsmen wore khakis and white shirts. Here are a few pics for you.

Originally Posted by letluva5412 

 

Hey Jen,

 

Thanks for all of your tips!  They are very helpful.  Did you discuss your decor with them throughout your planning or when you arrived at the hotel?

 

 

 

 

Hi Leticia,

I told my WC that I was going to be bringing paper lanterns about 5-6 before, but I didn't mention the chair sashes until about 4-5 weeks before when she sent me a list of questions to confirm the details.

J

Hi ladies,

I have to second Kari's comments below. 

We just got back from our wedding at Dreams Punta Cana a few weeks ago and we can't say enough on what an awesome job HDC did with our wedding photos. Our photographer was Francisco and he did a fantastic job of making both my fiance and I feel at ease during our photoshoot. I'm sure that most will agree that posing for photos for hours at a time, is generally not a natural experience for most of us but looking at the photos that Francisco took, you would have thought that we were models on the side (maybe not looking like them, but certainly as comfortable in front of a camera as one:)) 

There turnaround was amazing. We got married on a Thursday afternoon/evening and we met with Arnaud on Saturday morning to review our top 100 photos, from the 340 photos they took, that were to be printed and turned into a professional slideshow.  Once we made our picks, they told us that our prints and the DVD of the slideshow and photos would be ready that afternoon, which they were! As we got home, we have shared our photos with our family and friends and they have all be really impressed with the photos, some of the shots people have thought looked like they belong in a bridal magazine editorial fashion shoot.

All this, and their prices are extremely reasonable.

If you go with them you will not be disappointed. If you have any questions, please feel free to PM me.

J 

Originally Posted by kmhg 

Hi there,

I recently got back from our wedding at the Paradisus Palma Real and we used HDC Photographers. Arnaud and Milan were outstanding and I would highly recommend them. From the very first email exhange to picking up our photos just two days after the wedding, they were great. We had one photographer and one videographer and they were with us for 5.5 hours. I received all of the photos and the video two days following the wedding, as well as a link to the website where family and friends could view them.

Both Arnaud and Milan were kind, funny and patient with us and really made stunning phots. We laughed a lot with them and our guests thought they were very charming.

The prices were very reasonable and thye accept payment via paypal, which made paying from the US a breeze.

If you ahve any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Best,

Kari

Originally Posted by letluva5412 

 

J,

Anytime!  I guess she was talking about travel.  That's good to know. When did you start planning where your reception was and all of the details?  Is it too soon to speak with the WC about it now?  I've seen on other forums that you don't get a set one.  Pretty much everyone helps out.  If that is the case, then do they share all of your ideas with one another? 

Thanks for your help & input.  I truly appreciate it!  My future sis-in-law is an event planner and is asking me all of these questions about decor and what's included in each package, priv reception and if liquor is included, etc.  It's driving me nuts! LOL

 

Leticia

 

 

 

 

Hey Leticia,

I had my reception location confirmed probably about 8-9 months before our wedding - so it probably isn't too soon for you to confirm that with your WC. We didn't get into the details regarding the meal type and the cake until about 2 months before, but we already knew what we wanted.

I was passed to 3 different WCs throughout the year, but it seemed like they were all familiar with my file. The last WC I had was Gara (she was great by the way) and about 4 weeks before the wedding, she asked me to confirm all of the details of the wedding, from number of guests and wedding attendents, to who was walking me down the aisle. 

One of my bridesmaids is an event planner as well, so I can relate to all the questions

J

Originally Posted by subbi 

 

I have a wuestion for anyone who booked the wedding in paradise package. I notice in the outline it said the honeymoon package is also included but when I read the outline of the honeymoon package in fine print it said it cannot be combined with the wedding in paradise package. can anyone clarify if it is or isn't included.

Hey subbi,

We also got the Wedding in Paradise package and yes the honeymoon package was included. 

J

Originally Posted by letluva5412 

 

Hi Jenn,

 

Thanks!  I will definitely follow up with them.  I figured that it wasn't going to be as busy because the peak season is over-- well according to my travel agent she said the busier times are mid-Nov through mid-April.  I will definitely bring my own with me if necessary.  Did you have any trouble with your bill?  I read that some people had posted there were some discrepancies. What was it like from the time you arrived?  Did you meet your WC immediately? I'm so nervous because I've never had an event abroad, especially your own wedding.  My future sis-in-law is an event planner and she's helping me, but there are so many things she's not sure of.  BTW you looked gorgeous in your pic

 

Leticia

Hi Leticia,

That is so sweet of you to say! I think all brides look great on their day - you can't help it!

Maybe your TA was talking about the travel, but I'm pretty sure that our WC said that the wedding season was busiest May through August. 

We had no troubles at all with our bill, everything was exactly as we had asked and the prices matched what we had confirmed 2-3 weeks before we got there. We had arrived on the Sunday and on the Monday when we came back from breakfast, there was a note from our WC requesting that we meet - the only down side was that it was for the exact moment that we received it . We figured, they must have dropped it off, about a minute after we left for breakfast, so we had to go to the WC office and reschedule our meeting for the following day. We were a bit peeved as we were anxious to meet with our WC (Gara) but in hindsight it wasn't really a big deal, since we had decided on pretty much everything before we got there, our meeting lasted only about 15 minutes

If you have any other questions just ask, I feel like I need to give back since this site was sooooo helpful to me during my planning.

J

Thanks

Oh just to add, although there is a 'closet' it is pretty short, so you may want to go with laying it down flat in the overhead compartment.

In any case, as part of our wedding package the resort pressed both my dress and my fiance's suit.

Jenn

Originally Posted by JayKay 

 

We also didn't want to do the traditional gifts for the GM.  We have decided that we are going to buy them flip cameras.  That way they will be able to use them on their trip.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Flip-UltraHD-Video-Camera-Generation/dp/B0040702HA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306212297&sr=8-1

Hey JayKay,

We had that on our list as well. It's a great idea! BTW - did you know that if you go to the Flip website you can add a logo to customize it? We were thinking of doing that before my FI decided on the digital picture frames.