Suzhen

Hey ladies! If you pay the photographer in cash you do not have to pay the tax. Saved us like 400 bucks! Good luck! Suzanne

Congratulations! i worked with natalia and Mariela. Both are amazing! I agree their cake was amazing. Probably the best cake we ever had! Suzanne

Hello Again Brides. For some reason my pics were not attached properly so they were not visible to everyone. Hope you enjoy! I'm sad that our wedding is all over... Such an amazing day.

Suzanne 

Thanks so much Ev. I'm so glad you could view the pictures. For some reason not everyone can open the attachments. I'm going to repost them for the other brides. Have a wonderful wedding!

Suzanne

Hi Fellow Brides:

Brian and I got married on Sunday, May 19th at the Paradisus Palma Real " Reserve." It was truly amazing! We had a Garden Gazebo Ceremony (4:00 p.m.), Beach Terrace Cocktail Hour (5:00 p.m.) and Beach Reception (6:00 p.m.). The locations and timing was perfect. We had great weather. We were expecting really hot and humid and it wasn't at all. There was a great breeze the entire time so we really lucked out. I had a bit of an issue attaching photos... but was finally able to post each one individually. See picture attached!

Suzanne and Brian (New Jersey Bride)

Hope you enjoyed our pictures. We loved our photographer provided by the hotel. I always forget the spelling, but its something like Arrecife. Amazing work!

Good luck Brides!

Hello girls! I got back Thursday night from my wedding and I can't say enough about what an amazing experience and beautiful wedding day that we had! The resort was beautiful, food was great, service was amazing!!! We stayed at the reserve and had a swim up room. I had my hair done for our Sunday wedding. A low messy bun and the hair dresser did a great job. I did my own makeup. We used arrceffe photographer and specifically had Alvarro as our photographer. He was the best photographer ever! His pictures exceeded all of our expectations and was wonderful to work with. We worked closely with Mariella and Natalia and they made sure everything was perfect. I almost missed them once our wedding was over. Such sweet ladies! Needless to say we had the wedding and trip of our dreams. I will post pictures by next week. Have no fear ladies, the paradisus Palma real delivers! Happy to answer specific questions! Suzanne (nj)

Thanks for all ur comments girls. We leave tomorrow and I will definitely report back. Just curious... What does everyone think about tipping the dj, photographer, and wedding coordinator? We were assigned Mariella. My fiancé doesn't want to tip bc we've already paid alot but I definitely think that we need to tip Mariella at least. How much u all thinking if any? Suzanne

Hello Brides! I am leaving for punta Cana on Thursday morning! Our wedding is next Sunday and anxiety is setting in..... We were finally able to confirm our rehearsal dinner for 30 people at Bano Bistro restaurant. It's the hibachi style and the only restaurant that could accommodate the size of our group that wasn't Buffett. We still have a ton left to do including placecards, menus, and welcome itineraries. Excited and nervous!!! Suzanne (nj bride)

Hi fellow Brides! Our wedding date is less than two weeks away ... And I thought I'd share my most recent catastrophy. I completely forgot to pick up our marriage license on friday and we are supposed to have our legal ceremony tomorrow (sunday) in front of our parents....we spent last night at our local police station trying to track down the county clerk to see if we can somehow get it on sat (today) even though the office is closed. What a stressful night!! Our parents were really upset which didn't help. We finally heard back from the county clerk and she said we could pick it up Monday and just have the judge sign it on Monday and date it with Sundays date..., I guess it's a solution but not ideal. So my advice is to NOT forget to pick up ur license. Ahhhh! Suzanne

Hi! I saw that you are having a rehearsal dinner the night before... are you doing the private party for all your guests or are you doing it at one of the restaurants at the resort? I really want to do something with everyone but it's just so much money I talked to my romance planner, Jessica, to try and schedule a rehearsal and rehearsal dinner but she told me that I'd have to schedule that with the onsite romance person. When I asked how to get in contact with this person onsite Jessica told me that we brides are transferred over about 1 month before and that the onsite person doesn't know her June schedule yet... super weird! I'm really stressing over this because I want to print itineraries for all my guests. I am getting married on may 19th and I was told in order to make a reservation for over 20 people at one the restaurants for a rehearsal dinner that we had to wait until 1 week before the wedding to make the reservation.... So we wait! Hope it all works out. We have 30 people. I will report back! Suzanne (from nj) xoxo, Darlene 

Good luck this weekend Erica! Send pics when u get back! I am just 3 weeks away and started to really feel stressed! Suzanne

Is anyone bringing their own cake stand? Suzanne

I am having the Dominican trio for the cocktail hour. Suzanne

Thanks for the rehearsal dinner info! Suzanne

Thanks so m

We are doing bags and having them at the check in desk at Palma Real (for an additional fee) but we also have guests staying at the reserve so anyone staying at the reserve will get their bag when we see them! Or if we have time, we will take the golf cart over and hand deliver them I got a great price on really cute bags from The Wedding Chicks Shop... much cheaper than buying them on Etsy! We got wedding welcome tags with itineraries on the back for $1 each from Etsy (Jones Street Press) and they turned out perfect! We got little things to put inside nothing major except my fiancé wanted to do t-shirts inside them. Can't wait to see how the t-shirts turn out!

I'm totally with you and freaking out!!!! I consider myself a bit of a control freak and the one thing I'm genuinely concerned about is the hair and makeup. Our wedding is on a Sunday and we arrive the Thursday before so I'm planning on doing a trial at some point on Friday. I was actually emailing back and forth with Yoanny, the spa manager, today and the trial for hair and makeup is $126+ tax. It kills me to pay for this but I don't think that I'd rest easy without it so I'm just going to bite the bullet and spend the money!!!! I'm not so much concerned about the weather... it's more about how the makeup will actually look.  Darlene 

So is anyone doing welcome bags for your guests? We want to but not sure how we get the welcome bag to guests not staying at the reserve where we are... Thoughts? Suzanne

I am super nervous about jair and make up as well. I am trying a hair and make up but before going down, I am going to go to MAC and have them do my makeup and have one of my bridesmaids come with me for back up. I also had them what make-up they use and they use bodyography if anyone is interested. I am going to try and keep my hair simple but elegant. I am jsut bringing my own products haha might be a little crazy. For the girls with the bridal party drama, I can totally sympathesize. Our best man was all about doing our destination wedding then became unsure about. Then said he wasnt going to go then then he was. The day that the groomsmen went to go try on their outfits. He showed tried on the vest and then not the pants and when we said something to him he said that he wasnt going to go. Then a few days later texted my fiance and said he never asked to be the best man! what a jerk. My thoughts for these are theyre better off not coming and ruining everyone special day!

Oyyyy. I'm worried too we are in July. LOL What time is everything taking place? Our ceremony is at 5 pm in church and 7 for cocktail and reception at 8:00 pm on beach so I'm hoping it will cool down by then. My dress is tight with heavy beading but it can be a little of an issue. The reception is so short and nothing compares to my dress so in my mind- keep it on girl! Suffer through lol Its once in your life! And then switch into a short reception dress for the after party- if you are intending to keep it going. I know I am.  Since we are getting legally married in NY before heading to DR to avoid the headache of getting married there- I purchased a little white cocktail dress from a store called Cache. They had 4 short white options and 2 long, flowy, chiffon looking dresses. I tried all of them on haha. We never did an engagement shoot so we hired a photog to take pics of us in the courthouse. The dress was a little of a splurge at $198 but I intend on wearing it again at the resort, most likely once I take my wedding dress off at the end of the night and get ready to boogie down. I don't know how heavy your dress is, or what time of day you are getting married. Those two factors will weigh on your decision- but I think my dress is too fab to take off unless I'm about to pass out. I even joke to my friends about starting a blog called The Perpetual Bride and going everywhere with my dress on- groceries, work, the park...lol

My

Oyyyy. I'm worried too we are in July. LOL What time is everything taking place? Our ceremony is at 5 pm in church and 7 for cocktail and reception at 8:00 pm on beach so I'm hoping it will cool down by then. My dress is tight with heavy beading but it can be a little of an issue. The reception is so short and nothing compares to my dress so in my mind- keep it on girl! Suffer through lol Its once in your life! And then switch into a short reception dress for the after party- if you are intending to keep it going. I know I am.  Since we are getting legally married in NY before heading to DR to avoid the headache of getting married there- I purchased a little white cocktail dress from a store called Cache. They had 4 short white options and 2 long, flowy, chiffon looking dresses. I tried all of them on haha. We never did an engagement shoot so we hired a photog to take pics of us in the courthouse. The dress was a little of a splurge at $198 but I intend on wearing it again at the resort, most likely once I take my wedding dress off at the end of the night and get ready to boogie down. I don't know how heavy your dress is, or what time of day you are getting married. Those two factors will weigh on your decision- but I think my dress is too fab to take off unless I'm about to pass out. I even joke to my friends about starting a blog called The Perpetual Bride and going everywhere with my dress on- groceries, work, the park...lol

Hi girls, So my wedding is may 19th and I hear that even though the weather says it's 85 to 88 degrees that it actually feels like 92 to 95 degrees... With that being said, I am a little worried about sweating to death in my wedding dress. The bottom is all tulle. Ugh! Is anyone also worried about over heating on ur wedding day? I was contemplating getting a short white dress to put on half way through the reception. Thoughts?? Suzanne

I will definitely let you know about the beach terrace! It's a beautiful spot and typically really expensive to book at that location. I say.... If it fits 40 people, jump on it! I'll check it out. Suzanne

Ev, Thanks for your comments! I have to tell you we were really upset when we found out our cocktail location was overbooked... We negotiated a few things to make up for it and ended up getting the beach terrace as our new location so now I am really happy. But our initial reaction was... How do you overbook?????!!!! Lol! Suzanne

Hello Fellow Brides!

Our wedding date is May 19th and quickly approaching! We are getting so excited and finalizing all of our decor and details so I thought I'd share what we have planned thus far....

4:00 p.m. - Gazebo ceremony (We booked a violinist) and are going with Chill out Chic decor

5:00 p.m. - Cocktail hour on the Beach Terrace (Last minute location change b/c they overbooked the plaza colonial)

6:00 p.m. - Beach Reception

We have a total of 27 adults and 3 kids coming. Our main color accent is light peach and we are going with a Rustic / Burlap Theme. See pictures attached to get a feel of our upcoming wedding day! We are doing white linens with burlap table runners, and flower centerpieces with Light pinks, light peaches, and off-white flowers including some green leaves and ivy....We also chose brown tiffany chairs. For lighting on the beach we chose a string of Round Chinese lanterns...I think it will be really pretty. We are also getting sparklers for our guests to light once it gets dark. : )

My dress is Roses by Reem Acra Laurel Gown. I found it in Nordstrom and fell in love.... We have hired their DJ but really are bringing cd's with all of our own music prepared....For the rehearsal dinner... I was told by Bianca to wait until 2 weeks before our wedding day to make a reservation at once of the restaurants... i don't know how it will go considering some of the posts I have read. I am hoping we can all sit together but maybe not??

Oh and FYI for the cake topper, I found it on Etsy and they personalize it to the dress you are wearing and flower choices. Its really neat!

Well I hope you like my wedding theme and selections. Any feedback, questions or suggestions are welcome!

Thanks Girls.
Suzanne (From Northern NJ)

Thanks for sharing your inspiration board! Love so many things. I too and going with more of a rustic theme. We are doing Burlap runners and burlap favor bags with coffee beans... We bought our own lanterns that are real beachy and plan to get battery pillars bc we heard tht candles don't stay lit on the beach. Boo! Things are starting to come together!