swojdyla

kelelie, how often do you email the WC? who are you dealing with? They take like a week to get back to me :-( I don't mind but I would like if they got back to me faster haha Probably bc I keep nagging them about my "private" reception. I just don't understand why I can't book it NOW!! I want to pay them the money and have the peace of mind that everything is taken care of!

I like #1 and #4! Good luck!

YAY!! Congrats! Feel free to ask if you have any questions! Also check FB and joing the RIU Palace Punta Cana brides page! Happy Planning!!

What is everyone doing for their ceremony? I feel like I shoudl hire a band or singer...something??

I was just wondering what I was going to do for the ceremony. What kind of service does DJ Mannia offer? I don't think I want DJ music for the reception. Maybe I should contact the resort??

Yes things have definitely been crazy! 9 weddings to attend this year and plan my own! lol Start wedding dress shopping this weekend! So excited! Hope all is well with all of you guys! Good luck with the AHR search!

Don't worry girl I hit the 10/9 mth mark before I made my choice! I changed the date a couple of times too! lol I finally just put my foot down booked it all and sent the save the dates out all in 2 weeks! lol You can do it!!

Love the fan programs Shelly!! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the reply! I'm still waiting for WCs to explain to me when my reception should start haha I wanted a cocktail hour but don't think we will fit that in since our wedding is going to start at 6pm. I'm just trying to take deep breaths and tell myself it will all work out...they do a million weddings a year for heavens sake! lol You are much more of a gambler than me! I had to know our airfare and rooms were locked in! I would be stressed out if I waited til after xmas! But best of luck to you girl!! I haven't decided on colors yet but I'm thinking a light blue, and purple with a hint of yellow....I love yellow! :-) we will see...one thing at a time! So glad you ladies are here to help me! ~Stacy

Congrats Kristin!! Best of luck! Feel free to ask any questions!!!

That sounds amazing!! I am hoping to have a catholic ceremony for our wedding so I am trying to figure it all out. Are you paying for your pastor's trip? How long is he staying? I thought about taking our priest but I'm still not sure. As of now we have a priest arranged from the RIU. Our ceremony time is 6pm. What time is yours? Did RIU confirm the private reception? They told me they can't guarantee a private reception until 3 months before the wedding. This has me extremely nervous. What is the timeline you have planned? I was thinking about changing our ceremony to 4pm because I'm nervous 6pm might be too late to still get in the 4 hr private reception. We already booked DJ Mannia for our wedding. We heard amazing things about him and I just had to have him! lol I am hoping for aobut 30-40 guests. We have 10 booked including us! O just so you know airfare is posted...well at least out of philly! I'm so glad I found you!! lol

O and does everyone know of the FB RIU Palace PuntaCana Brides! JOIN!

I just read your reply again lol so you got married this year but are having a renewal in April???

Kelly I went on your website...its amazing!! You are good girl!! Well guess what I'm going to be at the RIU palace the day of your wedding!! I begged by fiance to have us go down on the saturday before our wedding so I could hopefully see some other weddings and how they turned out!!! I can't believe one of them will be yours!!! I'm so excited! How many people do you have coming? Have you found the wedding coordinators to be nice and helpful? I really have! Can't wait to talk!!!

There is a review on here from a girl who had about 100 guests at her RIU wedding and loved it! I'll try to find it for you and maybe you can get in touch with her! Hope this helped! Let me know if there is any other questions you have! Picking the resort was absolutely the hardest thing I did!!! O I also recommend that you use a TA ...it will really make your life a whole lot easier. I would happy to give you our guys info...let me know.

We decided on the RIU b/c the WCs are amazing!! I email them and always get a reply within 3 days! Their package covers 40ppl and it's only like 16/pp after that. Which is the best deal I could find for a private reception. I visited the RIU Palace while I was in DR and saw some of the rooms and they seemed great! They even let me and my mom eat there for free to check out the food and it was delicious! The RIU is a big resort with 2 others kinda connected...2-5 min walk to all of them. That was the other thing I really loved...if guests want to get away they have complete access to the other RIUs. With that being said the RIU NAiboa was awful...that’s the fourth one is DR and it’s a little further away! They are tearing it down but haven't completed the new place yet! It was so horrible! Lol So be careful! But Bambu and Macao were amazing! I feel like everyone can't be happy with everything you are always going to be unhappy guests and every ones experience will be different....you can only hope and pray for the best. So I am hoping if nothing else the WCs will take care of me! I can only speak of my experience at RIU and it was great! I already have everything booked and sent out my STDs so there is no going back for me now! Lol So I’m not going to lie you have me a little stressed with the trip advisor reviews but like I said...not turning back now!

Hey Tara, I got your PM but thought I would post my response on her so everyone could see what I had to say. I just visited DR in May 2011. I visited 6 resorts!! Majestic being one of them. Majestic was my first stop and the WC was 45 minutes late to my appointment! She threw my WHOLE day off and barely apologized. I had been in contact with her several times and she complete forgot about me. We took a short tour and I found them to be very expensive because their packages include almost nothing...especially if you are expecting over 100 people you should really be clear about what is included. I also did not love the layout of the resort. Everything was really spread out and the beach looked kinda small. The restaurant where they have the reception was ugly! It had cow print chairs! lol I absolutely feel in love with Paradisus but it was too expensive! But absolutely breath-taking! My suggestion is to take everything in to consideration. How well the WC communicates with you is a big one for me! I’m a little controlling so I want to know my vision is understood. I mean we are planning a wedding from the US! Haha So it’s hard!

Thanks for the save on crafts website!! I love it!! And Ska2m can you tell me a little more about your OOT bags. My wedding isn't until April 2012 but I just sent out my STDs and have 30 guests confirmed!! I feel like I'm going to hit 50-70 before I know it! Definitely wasn't prepared for that so I would appreciate any suggestions on how to save on OOT bags and how to get them all there!! lol

No my order came in 14 days!! I ordered 200 STDs lol

Well it looks like you are making some good progress with your wedding. I decided to book DJ Mannia b/c I have seen such good this on this website about him I just had to have him!! I think the rate he gave was still pretty good even concerning the 200 vendor fee. I feel like music is so key to a good wedding! WOW 110 guests! you have a lot of love around you! That is super tough to manage. I'm going to have about 40 I think. Still early to tell. I can't recommend a new york TA but my TA in NJ is great! I will ask him if he knows anyone. I decided to block off 10 rooms with airfare so that took care of 20 ppl....first come first serve lol. Everyone else is on their own but I gave them the TA's info so he could try to get them good deals A good TA is KEY!! I went through 2 before I got to my guy now! lol. Hope this all helps. Let me know if there are any other questions. When is your wedding?

Super cute idea!! How many suitcases do you think you will need to pack all of that stuff! lol

WOW a wedding on a cruise ship that sounds so cool! Best of luck!!

Yes I totally agree with that statment! They always get right back to me!

That's awesome!! God I want to live in Canada! I went 3 years without having health insurance. The thought crossed my mind many times! haha Anyways, My quote includes airfare and hotel stay but they definitely don't offer any deals like that! If anything thing I feel like they make things difficult. They expected us to put the deposit down for all the rooms we held and it was non-refundable! So we skipped that idea. That is really so great that you can help out your family! I feel like right now it's so hard for me to get an idea of our budget because I really have no idea how many people are coming...it could be 15 or 50! lol I will just have to wait and see. But I must admit this thread is making me nervous! I was hoping to keep in around 12,000....so fingers crossed! Keep us updated on your progress!!!

OOO you lucky girl! I had that on the top of my list but it was just getting too expensive for our guests. Best of luck to ya!