inloveinkorea

I just got married in March with 29 guests, and my bill at the Jellyfish was almost exactly $6,000. This included DJ, food, alcohol, cocktail hour, ceremony outside, cake, decor, simple flowers for the tables, and crazy show($850). Extra costs: photographer (about $2,000), videographer ($1500), Pastor Mark ($350) and makeup/hair for myself and my two bridesmaids ($275). Together with our resort costs (8 days for 2 people, free upgrade to Honeymoon at Ocean Blue & Sands was $2,750) 

so...

$6,000 Jellyfish (all inclusive)

$3,500 photog/videog

$   350 Pastor

$   275 Hair/makeup

$2,750 Ocean Blue & Sands

$   630 Flight for 2 people

----------

$13,505  total Punta Cana cost. 

I'm not including things like my dress and decorations that I purchased in the US and brought with me, nor bridal party clothing (which we purchased for the most part) but all of that would probably total another $2,000 or so. Either way, we literally can't believe our AMAZING wedding was only $13K. I had started my wedding search out back home (NJ/NY area) and the minimum we would have spent is probably around $25,000-$30,0000 PLUS a honeymoon. So we definitely saved a lot of money, and had an unbelievable wedding that our family won't ever forget! 

We saw a bunch of weddings at the resort, and ladies.. let me tell you.. the Jellyfish is worth every penny.  If you're agonizing between getting the included resort package and spending a litte more at the Jellyfish.. I promise you won't have one single regret about it. Do what you need to.. sell your sofa if you have to.. haha.. you'll have a dream wedding at the JF.  

I just got married in March with 29 guests, and my bill at the Jellyfish was almost exactly $6,000. This included DJ, food, alcohol, cocktail hour, ceremony outside, cake, decor, simple flowers for the tables, and crazy show($850). Extra costs: photographer (about $2,000), videographer ($1500), Pastor Mark ($350) and makeup/hair for myself and my two bridesmaids ($275). Together with our resort costs (8 days for 2 people, free upgrade to Honeymoon at Ocean Blue & Sands was $2,750) 

so...

$6,000 Jellyfish (all inclusive)

$3,500 photog/videog

$   350 Pastor

$   275 Hair/makeup

$2,750 Ocean Blue & Sands

$   630 Flight for 2 people

----------

$13,505  total Punta Cana cost. 

I'm not including things like my dress and decorations that I purchased in the US and brought with me, nor bridal party clothing (which we purchased for the most part) but all of that would probably total another $2,000 or so. Either way, we literally can't believe our AMAZING wedding was only $13K. I had started my wedding search out back home (NJ/NY area) and the minimum we would have spent is probably around $25,000-$30,0000 PLUS a honeymoon. So we definitely saved a lot of money, and had an unbelievable wedding that our family won't ever forget! 

We saw a bunch of weddings at the resort, and ladies.. let me tell you.. the Jellyfish is worth every penny.  If you're agonizing between getting the included resort package and spending a litte more at the Jellyfish.. I promise you won't have one single regret about it. Do what you need to.. sell your sofa if you have to.. haha.. you'll have a dream wedding at the JF.  

I found my bridesmaid dresses on modcloth.com. They were super unique and only about $80! I loved them and almost ordered one for myself.  

Not exactly blue and white, but we had blue and greens as our colors.. here's a pic from our candy bar at our wedding last month.

Here's a picture of what our real life sweetheart table looked like: 

And we had a Mr & Mrs sign hanging on behind us: 

Originally Posted by angiep451 

 

Hi Natalie,

 

I was looking to get some more information about weddings at the Jellyfish. Is it pretty affordable? Do you think it would be possible to have a wedding there under $10,000?

 

Thanks!

Angie

Hey Angie! I got married at the Jellyfish a week ago and you HAVE TO do it! We had our reception and ceremony there and I can tell you that our decor and party were nothing like the weddings we saw back at our resort. My total for 29 people at the Jellyfish (including AMAZING food, all drinks, DJ, flowers, all decor, and a show that included stilt walkers, dominican dancers, capoeira dancers, and fire dancers) was almost exactly $6,000. We also hired a videographer ($1,500) and brought our photographer (ended up being $1,500 for travel expenses, he shot for free) All of our guests were raving about how unforgettable the wedding was and now my parents, who had never had a real wedding and never considered getting one, want to come back and finally have a real wedding at the Jellyfish too! The Jellyfish will probably cost a little extra than what you would pay with a resort package but TRUST ME... it's so, sooooooo worth it! 

Originally Posted by angiep451 

 

Exactly how fast do spots fill up? If I wanted to book on a weekend in December of 2014 do you think there will still be dates available? Or am I kidding myself?

Hi Angie,

I just had my wedding last Friday and Mayte told us that weekends are booked through 2016... doesn't hurt to ask though!! Maybe you could also consider getting married on a Friday or Monday?

We just put down $500.

It's true about keeping track. He had to make the bank transfer from abroad as we were living in South Korea at the time. It was quite the hassle and I don't think we ever got the full confirmation numbers. Either way, Mayte's boss wasn't able to locate the money for a couple of weeks and it gave us quite the scare. 

I would e-mail her the day you sent the deposit and make sure you have all the tracking numbers to keep it straight. 

Sarah - what font did you use?

Hey Jenn! I'm leaving in 5 days as well! My wedding is next Friday. What resort are you staying at and when is your meeting with Mayte? 

I have yet to figure out tipping, but plan on working out the finances this weekend... yikes!

Originally Posted by sdj327 

 

also has anyone shipped anything to mayte prior to the wedding? she said we could but i have heard from other brides when they shipped to the resorts that things got stuck in customs

I did. I sent some stuff directly from an online store to her home address. There was an issue with the address - the one she provided me didn't seem to be right. Then, when Fedex tried to contact me, I had a very hard time getting in touch with Mayte. I spent A LOT having that package shipped and was super stressed it wouldn't get there. In the end, it got to her and everything was fine!

Yay!! Your wedding looks beautiful and so do you!! 

I would love to see the playlist as well.

I don't think a deposit is 100% necessary, but it sure made me feel better about the whole process.  

Not to be rude, but I don't understand what the problem is. Aren't you happy for your sister? I'm sure she's very excited, and that she was very excited for you when YOU got engaged.. so maybe try to be a little more understanding and supportive? Especially since she's planning the wedding for AFTER yours. 

My fiance's only sibling got engaged 3 months after we did, and picked a date 6 weeks before our own wedding date. She got married 2 weeks ago. At first, I was a little upset, but as brides, we have to realize that we are getting a wedding DAY, not a wedding month or year. Other people are allowed to get married and be happy too.

What I've realized in the past year of being engaged is that nobody is excited about YOUR wedding as you are, and we just have to accept that. 

If it were me, I'd wait and let your feelings settle. I probably wouldn't bring anything up about her plans. 

We wired a $500 deposit about 11 months in advance. 

Originally Posted by Bride2014 

 

 

@ inloveinkorea - Soooooo crazy! Your colour scheme is the EXACT same as mine with the ONLY exception being I am using gold and u are using light green!!!!! Though i contemplated using sea foam green! We are doing lace and burlap too!!!! Great taste!!!!! LOL!!! So crazy!!!!!

Yay! Please post some pictures so that I can see!!  

I have some bad news... Pastor York is retiring soon, and wasn't available for our date. He has an associate named Pastor Mark though. I'm still waiting to hear from him to see if we can skype or talk on the phone so that we can hear his voice... 

Originally Posted by MissyBee 

 

Those colors are beautiful! Will look great with the ocean! Are you bringing a lot of decor with you?

We are bringing A TON of decor! 

I'm bringing tons of DIY pom pom garlands, lanterns, backdrops, some centerpiece stuff, and a couple of signs, amongst other things. I'm a designer so I have a very specific vision, and I've gotta make it happen!

Originally Posted by MissyBee 

 

What colors are you girls planning on going with? We are using navy and fuschia.

We are using a bluish-mint as our primary, with teal and light green as secondary. I also want to incorporate burlap and lace. 

Hey ladies! 

I got the Dollar Tree Tumblers too. The price is right, but they do scratch/crack easily. We had to individually examine each one when buying them. I'm not expecting them to last forever, but hopefully they'll do for the 3-7 days that each guest uses them! 

Anyway... for packing, I also bought some plain white tissue paper from Dollar Tree. Because they scratch easy, I didn't want to stack them directly one on top of the other. Instead, I put a third of a sheet of tissue paper between each cup, to protect both sides as they stack. This will make them easier to pull apart as well. I also wrapped the lids and straws in tissue paper. I stacked about 9 cups high, and they fit perfectly into my suitcase height-wise. I have 30 and they barely take up any space! 

Hi Ladies. 

Apparently, if you booked in 2012, but did NOT get a firm pre-invoice before 2013, the restaurant will not honor the old pricing for you.. When I booked on Jan 4, 2012, I receive a wedding brochure with the "old" prices. She told me to wait to get the quote until I had firm numbers and not to worry about anything. At no point were we told that the pricing would change, or that getting a pre-invoice was time sensitive.

As everyone knows, communication with Mayte is near impossible. I've heard all all about how incredibly busy she is, so I decided to try to not bother her, and didn't hurry her about that quote (we were keeping our own tabs on pricing and budget based off of the brochure she had sent us. 

Now suddenly, Mayte is saying that it's impossible to keep the old prices, since those were from 2009. Now, I know for a fact that brides were being charged these same "2009" prices in December of 2012 for their final invoices.

It's INCREDIBLY frustrating and I can't help but feel like we are being cheated. 

Jenn, you're getting married 2 days after me!! We're getting married on the 8th. I can't believe how quickly it's coming up. Do you have an official invoice from Mayte yet? Communication has been so bad...

We put Jellyfish Restaurant on ours! 

I'm interested in the Sudoku books. I'll take all of them..

Nah, we're not going to have one. First, we've been living abroad for the entirety of our engagement (about 14 months thus far).. so at this point, our engagement feels kind of like old new. Plus, like a couple of other people mentioned, I know that all of our guests are spending a bundle to get to the DR and I wouldn't dream of imposing more onto them. I'm more focused on planning the wedding anyway.