welljen

Hi Raq87, Sorry about that let me try this again - I have a feeling that I may have forgotten to attach it since it was getting kind of late. Jenn

Hey Raq87 and DRwedgal2011 No problem, I'm happy to answer your questions - this site had proved invaluable to me during my planning so I'm happy to 'pay it forward' 1. If we take the flowers from the gazebo to use at the reception, do we still need o purchase vases? Also wondering if I decide to purchase my vases here to save $$, will a standard vase do or do they need to be extra big? If you do decided to go with the flowers from the reception, you don't need to purchase vases. The flowers aren't too high, but they do cover a nice degree of area on the table. If you have your heart set on a high centrepiece, this option probably won't work, but since our preference was for a lower arrangement and I was more interested in the colour of the centrepiece rather than on individual flowers we were very happy. I've attached a picture that shows 2 of the floral arrangements in the Gazebo set up. 2. For your wedding cake, did they have a bunch of different designs to choose from? Or I read from earlier brides that you can bring a picture of a cake design you like and they will try to do it?? We wanted a pretty simple cake, so we brought them a photo (along with the ribbon we wanted at the bottom of each layer and they did a great job of recreating it. We went with the Vanilla cake and it was excellent, some of our guests even went back for seconds! 3. I am also considering having a DJ, anyone who has done it, is it worth it or would you recommend just using an ipod? We just went with an iPod. We played music all through dinner and had the songs for our special dances. By the time we got through all of the speeches, cake cutting etc... we were out of time, so we headed for the Disco. In the end we were really glad that we didn't go with the DJ. Hope this helps!!! Jenn

Hey DRwedgal2011, I can help you out with the answers to many of your questions, since I just got back from our wedding last Thursday First and foremost, you will not be disappointed with anything! I was a total worrier about how things would run and they couldn't have done a better job of bringing my vision to life. Our wedding coordinator was Gara and she was great - the WCs are really quite amazing, since they work all morning with the brides planning to get married and then all afternoon and evening they are attending weddings! For that reason, I tried to be as organized as possible and included little notes with instructions for all of the extra items we brought along, like the paper lanterns, chair sashes, menu cards, seating cards, table numbers, guest books and welcome table. So here are my answers to your questions below: (1) Do you know how much the resort is charging to rent the vases for the reception? Also, what are the dimensions (LxWxH) of the vases? So I had emailed my WC looking for round Glass Bowls for my centrepieces and they were going to charge me $15 per vases (ridiculous yes, but a heck of a lot more convenient than lugging 5 glass vases down to the DR). I have attached a photo that Gara sent to me with all the different kinds of vases available. Oh, and one other great piece of advice regarding centrepieces, if you are planning to pay for the Gazebo decorations it is possible to have them move the flowers over to your reception terrace to use as centrepieces - we decided to do so after chatting with another couple that was waiting to meet with their WC a few days before the wedding and it was an excellent tip! (2) If we choose the Gold Package for the dinner reception, is it true that the resort includes a printed dinner menu card for each guest at the table? Not sure if this is true, although considering that most things come at an additional costs I'd guess that this is not true. Regardless, we created our own simple design in word and printed them out on ivory card stock. (3) Does the resort have Table Number cards to designate numbers for each table? When I contacted my WC a few months ago I was told that I would have to bring my own table numbers. Fortunately I was able to find some simple table numbers at the Dollar store (although there were the hefty price of $1.50 for numbers 1-12; and another $1.50 for numbers 13-24. (4) At the Himitsu Terrace, is there an area for paper lanterns to be hung? Also, does the resort allow us to bring white Christmas lights to hang around the reception location or is this not allowed? I don't believe there is anywhere to hang paper lanterns on the Himitsu terrace, but I'm sure that one of the other ladies here will be able to help you with the answer to that question. Not sure how many people you are having, but we had our reception on the El Patio terrace which has a wooden trellis which is perfect for hanging lanterns. The El patio was great because it is a little secluded and has an intimate setting. As for the lights, I think they will let you bring them, you would just need to make sure that there is a power source available for you. For that reason, we chose to go with the DIY LED Throwies, and attached 3 to some fishing line, so that they could hang them to the wire frames within each lantern and not have to worry about having outlets nearby. (5) We want to sprinkle either rose petals or glass colored crystals on the runway to the gazebo and on the dinner tables. Does the resort allow this or is there an additional clean-up fee for such items? We had purchased the Gazebo decorations so the resort supplied the rose petals sprinkled along the aisle to the gazebo, so the resort is definitely okay with the idea of it. The only thing that may be an issue is if you are thinking of using fake rose petals, just because if the odd real one isn't swept up it may not be a huge issue, but fake ones could be considered 'litter', so they might charge you an extra clean-up fee in that case. Hope this answers your questions. If you have anymore, just ask away! I'm planning to do a more detailed review - want to payback all of you ladies for all of your help in planning our wedding day. Jenn copas disponibles en floreste_DreamsPC-FlowerVases.pdf

Hey Amy, There was a bit of a kerfluffle a few weeks back when news spread that Dreams was no longer allowing outside photographers onto the resort and you could only use the Dreams photographer for your wedding day pictures (and they were making it retroactive regardless of how long ago you had informed them of your intention to use an outside vendor). Needless to say everyone was up in arms and there was a massive Facebook and Twitter campaign and eventually they reversed their decision and posted an apology on the Discussion section of their Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/topic.php?uid=76899137418&topic=14765

Oh, I just wanted to share with some of you brides that were wondering about renting empty glassware from the resort - in case you were worried about travelling with vases. So I just heard back from my WC and she has shared with me some pictures of some round bowl shaped vases that I can use for my centrepieces. They are available to rent for $15 per vase. I bit steep I know, but I only need 5 and its worth it to me, to not have to worry about them all breaking in my luggage - at least for me anyway. Oh well, I guess there goes the $79 I saved because they decided to wave the fee for an outside photographer!

Hey ladies, I can't believe how fast time is flying by. I am now only 16 days away from my wedding at Dreams Punta Cana!!!! I am so glad that I found this website, as I feel that thanks to everyone's great questions and sharing I am more prepared than I probably ever would have been if I hadn't come across this site. Thanks to everyone for all of their helpful posts, templates and rants - I'll be sure to return the favour with a review. Jenn

Hi Ska2m Thanks for checking with your friend on the vases, I really appreciated. Keep us posted on the new chairs situation, I'm curious to see what the costs would be to use the ones in the new photos. Thanks, J

Hey Ska2m, The reason for my radio silence, is that we are down to 29 days before we leave for the DR!!! I can't believe how fast time is flying by, it feels like it was only yesterday that me and my fiance got engaged. Things are moving along, waiting for the delivery of a few things, like our guest books! The only things left to do now are a make-up trial, so I can take some photos to give to the ladies at the spa and then printing out the welcome letters for our OOT bags, our donation favour tags and the name cards for our guests seating arrangements. One thing that has gotten me stumped is that I'm trying to do what ever I can to avoid having to transport 5-6 glass round vases down to the DR. Anyone have any suggestions on where I might be able to locate some acrylic vases?

Hey swojdyla, Just wanted to comment on your question about getting a 'good' price for your guests. I really wouldn't sweat it too much, as speaking from experience no matter how hard you try to get a good rate, you'll have tons of people that won't really believe that that is the best rate and will think that they can do something better. That's exactly what happened to us, when we told people the price back in August. Lots of our guests decided not to take advantage of the deal we worked out with our travel agent (which we thought was quite good at $1495 including taxes!) thought they could do something for less than $1000 based on their experience with Last minute deals in the past. Unfortunately that isn't really an accurate measure since they likely didn't make the arrangements until 1-2 weeks before leaving - not exactly the kind of lead time you want to work with when its a wedding Fast forward to now (6 weeks before our wedding) and the prices have only been increasing, not to mention the increased fuel surcharges on account of the rising oil prices because of the war in Libya. Needless to say the original prices we quoted are starting to look pretty good to people, since on average they have increased between $300-400. I hope this doesn't sound like it's been a negative experience, I just wanted to let you know that you don't have to take all this price stuff on your shoulders. All you can do is do your research and offer people the option to go with you guys, but at the end of day people will do whatever they want to do. Happy Planning!

Hi NurseM, That is a great idea. Just wondering where did you get your cake boxes and stickers? Thanks! J

Hey Ladies, Just wanted to pass along the email I received from Gara Dias, she is the woman who contacted me a few weeks ago to confirm the details for our wedding. I think that she may have inadvertantly included my email address in this message, as it sounds like it was an internal communication to the WCs. Sounds like they have decided to wave the costs to bring an outside photographer onto the property. From Gara: Good morning, As there has been a change in the preferred vendors for photographers, please be sure that you are passing along a consistent message to brides. Even though we have preferred photography vendors, couples are still welcome to bring/use whichever photographer they choose. It has also been decided that no additional fee will be charged to bring an outside photographer onto the property. Regards,

Hey everyone, Looks like our FB and Twitter letter writing campaign had an impact. In case you haven't seen it, the photography policy appears to have changed yet again. Please check out the post on the Facebook Discussion Page: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=14765&uid=76899137418 Jenn

Hello ladies, I haven't yet received an email from my WC about the new corporate policy regarding outside photographers, but I totally agree that we should send them a letter on behalf of all of us brides that had already booked with an outside photographer. The thing is, my reason for going with HDC was not because I doubted the skills of their resort photographer, it was primarily due to the fact that I could get more photos, in both B&W and colour, for a longer period of time for considerably less money. I understand that corporate policies can change, but at the very least they should give us all our deposits back and offer us all photography packages with the resort photographer, that are comparable to the ones we were expecting with the photographers that were our first choice!!! I am thinking that our letter should be to the general Dreams Punta Cana address, rather than the Wedding Coordinators - whom I'd expect have no authority to do anything. In addition to the letter, I'd also recommend that we start an all-out Social Media campaign on the Dreams Twitter and Facebook pages - these companies review these things regularly and the last thing they would want is for the bad press to go viral. Here is the link to their website, which lists all of their Social Media properties. If you would like to be part of a letter please PM me. Thanks, Jenn

I know. I really don't see what is so hard about return prepaid RSVP card - for goodness sakes the stamp is already on it! Oh, and I'm not sure I really buy the 'waiting for a cheaper price', since to be honest I think that if you were really keen on saving and booking your trip you would know that was your intention as soon as you received the invite, so you could still return it on time. As for the favours, we aren't doing wedding favours, and instead have made a comparable donation to a cancer research hospital in honour of my father who passed away some time ago.

Hey Janet, I totally hear you on this one. We are getting married May 5, 2011 and our RSVP deadline was 4 weeks ago and we still have 27% of our invites are still outstanding. The most frustrating thing about it is that most of those are to very close family and friends (like my fiancee's siblings and all of my fathers siblings and their children). We had asked people to RSVP to both our DW and our at-home-reception in the same card - which was an ordeal in itself, since we've realized that most people DON'T READ instructions. We are sending out the information cards for the At Home Reception, so for those people that haven't returned their RSVP (or called or emailed us) we enclosed a small "friendly reminder" card to let them know that the deadline has passed and that they can still call, email or send back the RSVP. Lets hope this works. Honestly, I just don't get it since I'm pretty sure that most of the late responders are not coming, I'd think that it would be a lot easier to decline by mail rather than having to answer us point blank over the phone. Oh, one last thing... we were at a friend's gathering the weekend of Feb 25th and asked one of the couples whether they were coming, since we hadn't yet received their reply. They said, "well I figured you knew were couldn't come to the Dominican Wedding". How can people be so dim? My response was, "how would we know that? Of course they had no answer for that - we still haven't gotten their RSVP yet!! ARGHHHHH it is so frustrating!

Hi smtc0245 Besides the rain, your pictures look lovely and it still looks like you were able to make the best of the situation. I was noticing your lanterns, did you tie ribbons to them that matched the colour of the lantern? Thanks, J

Hey all, I felt weird about it at first, but then when my mom and bridesmaids told me to think about the numerous wedding showers, bachelorettes and now baby showers I've attended over the last few years that weirdness quickly disappeared. The truth is that a lot of people won't be able to make it to the DW, so it is almost like they expect you to have one so they can feel a part of the celebration. Anyway, everyone that is coming to the shower is also coming to the AHR.

Hey Ladies, I am kind of surprised you haven't been receiving replies for the WC. Since our date was confirmed back in July, when ever I've emailed them they usually get back to me within the week. That said, once I knew I had my ceremony and reception location confirmed there really isn't too much else for me to arrange until I'm there and I know exactly how many people are coming with us. My only advice is to keep emailing them and they will get back to you.

Hey Dreams Ladies, So now that the holiday's are behind us, I'm starting to get back into wedding planning mode. I figure that the next 1-2 months are going to be super busy, with my fiance finally buying his suit and both of us getting the attire for both the groomsmen and bridesmaids. Fortunately, I've narrowed it down to 3 dress styles from J.Crew and we'll be ordering them all so the bridesmaids can decide which is the most flattering. My dress has already arrived, but I'll be booking my first fitting for the beginning of February; and I've already brought my shoes and jewellery - although I'm still trying to figure out what to do with my hair. The big thing on my list this month is the decor for the reception and the OOT bags. How is everyone else doing in their planning?

Hey Lil, Your pictures are wonderful - thanks for sharing! I really liked your bridesmaid dresses, the blue was beautiful and the style was very flaterring. Where did you end up getting them from? Thanks, Jenn

Hi Lyndsay, Thanks for sharing this information about your recent wedding. I really loved seeing your video of the ceremony as we will be getting married at the gazebo as well. Glad you had a wonderful wedding and that your guests had a great time as well. J

Hey Lyndsay, Congratulations! Welcome back from your wedding. Hope you had a wonderful time! With the exception of the weather, did everything else go 'somewhat' according to plan? How was the resort? Did your guests have a good time? Any insights you could share would be great!

Hey eddieandsheila, I am glad to hear that you were pleased with the suits and thanks for the tip about adding an inch to the measurements. Thanks so much for sending the jpg of the swatches. How long did it take for the suits to arrive? Thanks, J

Hey mochamakes, Thanks for the tip! Jenn

Hey mochamakes3, How did you set up a US address? I've been thinking about doing so after seeing all of the great wedding items that are available in the US. J