JBHHoops

That makes sense about the limited number of people in the Gazebo wedding. It was a very tight squeeze, but we really had no other option because of the rain that day. We had friends cornered in small sections without any room to spread their legs, or even extend their knees. It was ok though, since it was so short. We did have to pay extra for each person that came to the wedding, regardless of where they stayed. I think it was 14$ pp, and as far as we could tell that paid for just champagne and cake for the extra people. Pretty expensive, but whatever. We actually had our entire group stay at the Bavaro. I had one friend that wanted to save the money, and booked the Dominicana, but after staying there one night, he ended up switching and paying the extra. The big difference was the ability to eat off the menu at restaurants, where at the Dominicana, it was all buffet. We used the photographer on site, Nicola. He was great, but he was a little bit similar to the wedding coordinators at the resort.....harder to reach before the wedding, harder to pin down on prices and plans, but once we got there, it was all good. I'd be happy to share some pictures with you. I'll send you a couple privately and if you have any questions let me know.

Hi, We got married at the Iberostar Bavaro in May 2013. We had an awesome time, a great wedding, and we have very positive things to say about the resort. To answer your questions, we thought the pricing was very fair. They charge $14 dollars a person, even though they were staying at the resort, and thought that was excessive, but that was the only complaint. We did not have a DJ. We just loaded our iPod with songs we knew we wanted and hooked up the sound system. We had a dinner in the cajun restaurant the day before the wedding, and in the steakhouse the night of the wedding. Both were great. The service was awesome, and they went out of their way to work it so that all 50 of our guests were able to eat with us. Rather than do a full review, I'm going to mention some things that I wish we had known during the planning process. -The communication between us and the resort was very spotty during the planning process. We now know that this was not a big deal, but we would often email our questions and go a long time without responses, and when we did, they were generally pretty vague. It added some stress to the process, but in the end, I think that is just the way they do things. You can plan and make arrangements before, but for the most part, you do it when you arrive and have a meeting with the wedding coordinator. -Laura was our coordinator, and she was awesome. We had some special requests and she helped us with all of them. She was all over the place the day of the wedding and was really helpful. -It rained on our wedding day. This was our worst fear going into it, and we were pretty bummed out when we were told that we would need to move it to the gazebo. In the end, it very well may have been a blessing in disguise. The gazebo was awesome. It was very quiet and peaceful and the backdrop was great. Pond, palm trees, etc. We walked by a beach wedding while we were there, and there are people all over the place. There can literally be people laying out within 30 feet of your altar, which is not a big deal, but the gazebo wedding was definitely more intimate. -The photographer was awesome. We were worried we wouldnt get the beach photos because of the rain, but Nicola met us the next day and went out of his way to take more pics with us. We had to get dressed again, but we would have been really bummed if we weren't able to get those beach pictures. The resort was great though. We had 50 people and we had kids, we had people that wanted to drink all day, we had picky eaters, we had people that liked to get to sleep early, golfers, and everyone had a great time. There was something for everyone.

We are getting married in May at the Iberostar Bavaro. Does anyone have input on the availability of something beachside for a casual outing the night before the wedding? It's a little frustrating emailing with the folks at the resort because they kind of don't understand any of the specifics of the questions we ask, and just give real generic responses and attach the same files. We'd like to have something that is not necessarily private, but is at least coordinated and more elaborate then something like "everyone meet at the restaurant and we'll go from there." Does anyone have any insight that has done a wedding at this resort? Thanks