LP123

I would strongly recommend the salon for the hair. They use hair products specifically designed for the humid climate. I did my own hair for the trash-the-dress using my the products we brought with us and it lasted about 30 minutes before falling apart. My sister did my make up. Alex does seem to be the only stylist at the salon so you have to book appoitments one after another for everyone. She also did an amazing job styling my mother in law and my mom. For your wedding day, you get 20% on all their services. It was $160 for all three of us end of Sept 2011 (my mother was not official, they worked on her while I was blow-drying mine for about 30 minutes). Carolina can make the appointment once you get there or you can make it yourself 1-2 days before. This is what i did. They also do a trial run the day before or whenever you schedule (inlcuded in the wedding price). Also worth mentioning - I had certain ideas on how I wanted to get my hair done and they said they couldn't do it that way because it was too short (the stylist back home thought it would work great). In any case, the salon offered a different style doing it up during our trial discussion and basically said that either they do it their way and guarantee it or I do on my own. i was not thrilled with the style they offered but after sleeping on it for a night and with my mom's push decided to go ahead. I didn't like it at all all the way until they put the veil in, then it suddenly made sense and ultimately it turned out to be great! Everybody said i looked amazing, I felt great, the pictures look great and the hair stayed in place for 2 days. I liked it so much, didn't want to take it down. I was very happy overall and would definately recommend the service. Good luck with your wedding!

There was no extra cost involved in changing hotels unless it it will somehow show up later it'd be a surprise. It was still two weeks before the travel when they made the change. They booked an air+hotel package from the US.

Hi Roxy, thank you for the information. Our guests were able to move to our hotel for part of their stay right before and after the wedding so they are not cutoff from the rest of the group. LP.

We are 18 days away and starting to pack! Do you recommend bringing snorkel gear, fins or swimming shoes. We have them from prior travels but don't to haul to DR if there is no use for them there. How is the beach outside of Palladium for swimming and snorkeling?

Ladies, some of our guests are staying at Iberostar - Bavaro: http://www.iberostar.com/EN/Punta-Cana-hotels/Iberostar-Bavaro.html. I can't find any maps of Punta Cana that would show us how far this is from the Palladium. Do any of you know or have found this on the web? Also wondering how we can integrate these into our activities which all going to be at Palladium. Has anyone had to deal with this? Be grateful for any suggestions. Thank you in advance!

I am looking for suggestions on how to handled divorced parents who can't stand each other in a destination wedding. Our wedding is turning out to be about them and not about us. At least one of them is very likely to walk out on us at the last minute due to inability to cope with the other one being there. This is adding tremendous stress to both of us and is embarrassing for me as there is nothing of this sort in his family. Anyone else has these issues and how did you deal or planning to deal with it? Thanks in advance!

Congratulations, Chell44! Great to hear everything went well and you had an amazing wedding. Very happy for you and look forward to seeing the pictures.

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?

Thank you richarsd and jacobderosenoir for your advice on the rooms. This is very helpful.

We are deciding between booking a deluxe room in the Palace section, a Romance Suite in the Bavaro section or the Royal Deluxe room. Our goal is to balance having something special for us and a bit more room to prepare for the wedding as was recommended in the earlier posts and being close with the family and the beach. The extra cost of Romance Suite and the Royal Deluxe is about $700 on a 10 night stay for each room and we are paying for several, so really getting stressed about this decision. Would be very grateful for any advice and perspective on this.