edevine

Hi ladies! I got married at the PPR in October, 2012 and my sister, my 11 year old niece and myself all got our hair done. My sister and my niece both got updo's that came out so good. I wore my hair down and it is my biggest regret. I brought tons of pictures of how I wanted my hair and wearing your hair down is just tough to get it the way you want it, especially with the language barrier. I think they probably do so many updo's that they just come out better. I wished I had wore my hair up because I think it would have come out nicer, plus it is SO hot there by the end of the night my hair was in a sweaty ponytail. And yes, it is super windy at the beach, even on a beautiful day, so my hair was blowing in my face the whole time. Also, allow yourself plenty of time, they are all on island time and take forever! My hair took almost 2 hours and I was so rushed the rest of the day. Hope this helps!!

One more thing. We did a homemade guest book, I got a fugifilm camera, bought this guestbook on etsy... http://www.etsy.com/listing/55968446/fujifilm-instax-200-wide-format-photo, and brought down a bunch of funny props, it was one of the best things we did!

I just got married in October at the Paradisus Palma Real in Punta Cana and here is my list. :-) Some things I would do again: 1. Hire the vendors that I did. Allurements by Rebecca, HDC photo, and DJ Mannia were all amazing. I have no regrets with any of them. 2. Get down there a day before everyone and stay for a week after everyone leaves. We flew down on a Tuesday (the wedding was on Saturday). Some of our guests flew in Wednesday and everyone else flew in Thursday. I was SO happy that we decided to do this. It was a little busy just unpacking all of our stuff, getting a feel for the resort (its HUGE) and meeting with our wedding planner before everyone got there. It takes a day to get settled plus you are exhausted from traveling - we were all finally relaxed and able to enjoy everyone once they started showing up. My sister (MOH) flew in Tuesday night and she helped us put all the welcome bags together. We then met everyone at the lobby when they arrived and passed them out, this was a nice touch and some people think its a pain to go back and forth to the lobby but trust me, you are so excited to see everyone you won't mind. All of our guests including us stayed in the Reserve Section of the hotel for a week. A lot of our family stayed for a week so after everyone left we went to the Royal Service section for another week for our honeymoon. We ended up staying for there for 2 weeks total and we definitely needed the week after to recover! You are SO tired by the time everyone leaves that you need the week to yourself. This is a long time to take off work, and a little more money but it's your wedding and definitely the best thing we did. 4. Write our own vows. We got so many complements on this and it was such a nice touch. 3. Relax and enjoy! We really had the best time, there were a few small issues but we just enjoyed ourselves, our friends and family had so much fun and that is the most important thing. Some things I wouldn't do again. 1. If you are getting married in October, I would get married around 4:00pm. The sunset is beautiful at that time of the day. We got married at 6:00pm thinking it would give people time to enjoy the beach all day and had to push our wedding back to 5:30pm b/c it ended up getting dark at 6pm. By the time the ceremony was over it was too dark to take pictures on the beach. Luckily we did a TTD session a few days later but if we didn't we would have no pictures on the beach. 2. Schedule an early hair appointment. My appointment was at 2:00pm for a 5:30 ceremony, i was so rushed!! I thought I would like to go to the beach all day but I was too ancy and couldn't sit still. I wish I had my appointment earlier b/c she took 1.5 hrs to do my hair (they're all on island time)... I felt a little rushed when I got back to my room and showed up at the ceremony at 5:35pm. 3. Ladies - wear your hair up!!! This is my biggest regret, trust me, I HATE my hair up but it's soooooo hot down there. I wore my hair down and by the time the ceremony is over I was a sweaty mess and my hair looked awful. Plus it's a little windy on the beach. You can always wear your hair down for the TTD pictures.. My hair was in a ponytail by the end of the night. 4. It is SO hot down there, all of our guests had to go back to their rooms and changed bc they sweated through their clothes. I don't regret having the reception outside, but this is something to think about, might want to have it inside where there is AC. The Paradisus Palma Real was amazing, I would definitely get married there again!!!

HDC was amazing!! They showed up right on time, Carlos did the video, Jorge did our wedding pictures, and Milan did our TTD session. Arnaud is GREAT to work with, he responds right away!! They are so friendly and made our day so much fun. Some of the pictures were amazing, you won't regret using them!!

I love this!!! Where did you get the book made?

Thank you!!

Thanks Ayansi! Do you have a link to that thread? I can't seem to find it...

LOVE the message in a bottle seating cards!!!! Congratulations!

Yes we have to pay for an offsite vendor fee, it's about $120/day per person, so they are coming for the wedding and then for the TTD session. I emailed the resort and they said DJ Mannia is still their preferred DJ??

Also, I booked HDC, they have been great so far to work with and if you like their Facebook page, you can see their work. They are very good and very reasonable!

Wow I'm so glad I saw this post! I'm getting married next October at the PPR and was told that DJ Mannia was the preferred DJ. She never informed me that they made the switch. I just emailed her to confirm, I'm glad I saw this!!!

Thanks for the pics! Yes, it's crazy how they upcharge the Gabi to that amount of money, made my decision easy too! We went with the poolside terrace, it's the only option other than the beach and the ballroom that you don't have to pay for an upcharge, and with the beach you then have to buy a dance floor. I agree I don't really want to dance or eat in the sand :-) Congrats to you too! Good luck with the rest of your planning!

Hi fellow brides! I just got engaged in August and we just booked our wedding for October 2012 at the PPR. I'm trying to decide on reception spots! We're having all our guests stay in the reserve section and I'm torn between the Olympus Terrace or the Gabi Beach ..does anyone know anything about these 2 locations? Any pics/advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Hi fellow brides! I just got engaged in August and we have decided to book our wedding at the PPR October 2012! We are having all our guests stay in the reserve section and I'm trying to decide on a reception spot. The wedding will be on the beach and I'm torn between the Olympus Terrace by the pool, or the Gabi Beach - anyone know anything about either of these spots?? Any pics/advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!