futurearlington

It's been almost 10 months since we were married at PPC and I decided to hop on here to see how the weddings went for the "pending" brides from around that time. From what I gather, changes in policy at the resort is upping the cost of current weddings. Even at a higher cost, I'd still do it again in a heartbeat! If there's any advice I can offer to those trying to keep costs down, it would be to keep your decor simple & don't overthink it. The resort itself provides a great backdrop. You don't need much to give your location(s) a wedding inspired feel. Focus on yourself and things that will impact the experience of your guests (setting, food & music). Best of wishes and congratulations to you all!

Was married this Saturday. The short of it: Romance Team = AWESOME, especially Beatriz. HDC Photography, especially Milan = EXCELLENT!!! DJ & MC = no problems or issues, did everything we asked for (& we asked for A LOT). Food was also great; all the guests raved. We did make a last minute call to move the reception to a covered area & so glad we did. The heavens opened up 20 minutes before the end of the reception. It was quite warm at the new location but they brought in a bunch of fans to cool things off. If anyone had any specific questions I might be able to answer, please message me - not going to clog up the postings with responses.

Quote:Originally Posted by TishaJules  We have actually been checking these flights for a while! Hoping they woudl go down...but they were holding steady. We are hoping and thinking they may drop a little before going up because some of the flights still have like 90 something seats available. But do believe I'm going to start purchasing! lol.Yes. It's the Reserve at the Paradisus Punta Cana. It's on their property..just seperated. Private pool and a few exclusive restaurants. Suppossed to be more privatized and little more expensive. Although now I wish I would have just had my guests book in the main hotel. All the action is down in the main hotel. They would have to walk or take one of the carts down. It's beautiful still. Oh my! I don't know how you do it!!! Our wedding is November 2, we booked our reservation & flights in January and sent out invites in February! I'd love to be someone who can leave things to the last minute but that is oh-so-not-me! Best wishes to you!

I honestly didn't even know there was a Miami office. We've done all of our booking through a local (to Annapolis, MD) travel agent. The resort contacted me directly after our booking was confirmed.

November 2. And I'm quite grateful that I somehow managed to bypass having to deal with the Miami office at all - since day 1 I've only dealt with the resort's onsite personnel directly!

November 2. And I'm quite grateful that I somehow managed to bypass having to deal with the Miami office at all - since day 1 I've only dealt with the resort's onsite personnel directly!

Oops, meant to reply to sarahKbride. Thanks but all of our planning & selections are done for our November 2013 wedding. Since we're keeping it beach casual (sundresses & flip flops), we didn't stray far from the package we selected & only upgraded the bar & music/entertainment. Plus, since we live & work in a resort town that gets busy starting May 1, we buckled down & made sure all of the planning was done by the end of February so other than finding a dress for me & putting together welcome bags for the guests, wedding planning is complete for us! Congratulations & please share your wedding experience with us once your back home!

We did We did a standard wedding invitation and included a line at the bottom, in small print, "Visit ((URL)) and see enclosed insert for more information" then included a folded insert on card stock with all of the details (travel agent contact info, how/when to book, that the wedding is casual, activities planned, etc.)

We haven't made our bags yet but I've been collecting ideas from Pinterest. So far our wish list for our bags includes: Shhh/Do not disturb door hangers, fans, flipflop playing cards and luggage tags, body sunscreen, sunscreen for lips, advil/tylenol, upset stomach meds, drink coozie, Guest of the Bride/Groom mad libs (to be left in a basket at the reception), snack, agenda details for the wedding day & day before activities, thank you card and aside from that we may pick up stuff at the resort once we get there.

Thank you maridr2012!!! I priced out the resort nearly a half dozen different ways & a local travel agent ended up not only having the lowest prices, but is also able to give us direct $$ perks to lower out travel costs and just seemed more personal than simply talking to someone over the phone - our guests can actually pop into her office to get travel questions answered, book travel, etc. And with the amount of traveling I do for work she's taken a great burden off of me by being the one handling everything for our guests. I don't know if someone from a Miami office should have contacted me but my only contact for the resort itself is WC Jennifer and from the phone number attached to her email tag, she is AT the resort. I feel like I'm pulling teeth to get any responses from her. Even this week it's been 3 days I've been awaiting a response. I realize our "day" isn't until November but living in a summer resort town, we won't have 2 minutes to do any planning or make any decisions between April & October so I need to get everything done now - a point I can't seem to get across to her. I guess I'll give it through the weekend, then make calls Monday if I haven't gotten the information I requested by then. Thank you again for explaining some things to me!!!

It has taken my nearly 10 hours to read through this thread & all I have to say is THANK YOU! Our November wedding is booked & guests have already started making their reservations (we sent STDs last week) through the local travel agent we decided to go with. We're an older couple (late 30s/early 40s) & didn't want to stress over planning a wedding. I can now see that issues are going to need to be dealt with but I'm hopeful that the overall process will cause less stress than planning an event in our home town. We are going with a "beach casual" theme & have invited 170 guests! Statistics show roughly 40% will attend so we're looking at quite a large party! We have no cares about the linens/decor and probably won't upgrade any of that, we have very little cares about the food (aside from making sure my PKU nephew does not get I'll) and are more concerned about atmosphere, photography, music & cost! I'm paying for this myself & can't seem to find enough pennies for it despite the event being 8+ months away. So far, I do not have a high level of confidence in our WC & am struggling with the photography issue but aside from that I'm confident all of my questions will be answered either by the slow-to-respond WC (eventually) or this forum. That being said... (1) is it safe to presume that your outside photographer passed on the $1000 fee to you? (2) are you charged full price for small children at your reception? (3) re: changes in wedding/reception sites - did the resort drop notes or messages to your guests advising them of any changes from the original plan? (4) is there anything else we should know? Thank you much past, present & future brides (& grooms)!!!