Ladies...Rest assured you have made the best decision in booking Dreams Palm Beach for your wedding.
We just got back from our 2 week holiday & got married on 19th June. The resort is faultless. Our whole group loved it! They actually said it exceeded their expectations.
I was really worried for over a year about the choice of hotel. I read every single review every day on Trip Advisor. I was mostly worried about our friends and family would think of the resort. As soon as we arrived I knew we had made the right choice. Cristina was there to greet us as we arrived off the bus as Julie was busy with a wedding. Cristina was amazing, she made us feel so special & at home as soon as we set foot off the bus. As we Walked through the resort we couldn't stop saying how beautiful it was, even though I had seen a million pictures before (the photos don't do it justice)
We checked in to the preferred club. The ladies in there were amazing. Especially Alexandra who greeted my husband & I with a glass of champagne & checked us in. The preferred club staff treated us like Royalty the whole two weeks. They all knew who we were and always asked if we needed anything & if everything was ok with our room etc. They went over & above to make sure we had the best time possible & I thank them for that.
Now on to Julie. Julie is one of the nicest people I have met in my life. From the moment we met Julie we knew we were in great hands. She is so talented & had every little detail I had emailed her previously at our pre wedding meeting. She took us around the resort, showing our chosen locations and explaining how it would all work on the day. We had taken some pomander balls etc with us so we explained how we wanted it & left our case with Julie. She was always available in the wedding office, as was Johanna & Cristina if we ever needed any help with anything or needed any questions answered. They are all amazing! On the wedding day Julie had given us a mobile phone, so we could contact her at any time with issues or questions.
The wedding day!!!
In the morning my mum, mother in law & our bridesmaids came to my room to get ready. We just chilled in our house coats & slippers & phoned room service for breakfast and then ordered a few bottles of champagne to open once our photographer & videographer arrived. The first thing I did when I woke in the morning was run to the balcony and check the weather. The sun was shining & it was looking good! It was my worst fear that we would travel all the way from Scotland to the Caribbean to get married & it rained. Julie brought our bouquets to my room & I almost cried when I seen them. They were absolutely stunning. Nicer than what I had pictured in my head for over a year. The roses were the nicest roses I had ever seen.
In the afternoon, it was just my luck, guess what..IT RAINED! The sky was grey and it didn't look good.
I was devastated but I tried not to think too much about it as we had so much going on in the room with our photographer & videographer.
Julie brought me the weather forecast for the day and explained that the rain was forecast to stay on pretty much all day.
Our ceremony was to be on the beach & our reception on the pool Island.
Julie explained our options and tried her best to do the best thing for us. She didn't want us to be disappointed at all in anything thinking we made the wrong decision.
Luckily, about an hour before our ceremony the rain went off and they began setting up our chairs & Gazebo etc on the beach (we could see this from my balcony)
I decided to the best option was to move our reception inside to one of the ballrooms. I decided this as Julie explained that if we keep our ceremony on the pool Island & it rained, although she could re-arrange things to be taken inside, DJ Mannia might not be able to. As we had spent a lot of money on DJ Mannia & the lighted dance floor I decided it was too much to loose & chose to have our reception inside.
Our photographer and videographer arrived at my room at 2.30pm. I can not say enough great things about our choice for both. Our photographers Georges & Mili from GGGPHOTO http://www.gggphoto.com/ were AMAZING!! Trust me I did a lot of research on every photographer in the Dom Rep and I am so happy I stumbled across them. Our pictures are breath-taking (if I do say so myself) Anyone we have shown them too has said they have never seen wedding pictures like it. They captured the whole day so perfectly that our friends & family that couldn't make it said they felt like they were actually there. Our package included a TTD session which we didnt want to do. So Georges said he could pick us up & take us to two different locations a short drive away. OMG!! Words cannot describe these places. The first location was a natural cave. I had never seen anything like it in my life. The second was a secluded beach. Both made for the most amazing pictures. Thank you Georges so much for taking us there. You both are unbelievably talented! I will post pictures soon. Up & coming brides, you DEFINITLY need to check out GGGPHOTO. They are so reasonable and you will not regret them!! AMAZING!
Our videographer was also AMAZING!! I am so so happy with our choice in using Florian from Video Punta Cana. http://www.videopuntacana.com/home/home.php. He shot the whole day & edited it so beautifully. He is super talented and every time I watch the video I notice something different about the way in which he edited it . I am so glad we have this video as on the actual day I dint take anything in. It just goes past so quickly. I am now able to relive the whole day every time I turn on the DVD. So thank you Florian for giving us this! You are awesome! Ladies, you need to check out Video Punta Cana for your day. You will not regret it!! ( I will post our trailer video soon)
At 4pm it was time to head to the beach. The amazing Julie came to collect us from my room. When she arrived she said, "when we go outside I want you to look at the weather". I was so busy getting photos taken in the room I had totally forgot about the rain and dint look for a while. When we got outside the sun was shining! It was a miracle!
The music started and my bridesmaids walked first, then me & my Dad. When we got down I couldn't believe how amazing everything looked. It's such a strange feeling as you plan every little detail in your head for so long, but words cant describe how it feels to see it all come together on the day! It was more beautiful than I could even have imagined. Thank you Julie!!
We had Pastor York do our ceremony. WOW!! There was not a dry eye on the beach! His wording was so personal to a bride and groom & their families & friends. I am so glad we booked Pastor York. Everyone loved him! No wedding should ever be without him!! You are amazing at what you do! Thank you!! Ladies...You know what to do!!
Our cocktail hour began at 6.30. So after pictures on the beach our party went to the preferred lounge for drinks & snacks while we had pictures done on the beach. Then we headed over to the ballroom for our cocktail hour. This was set up in the hall just outside the ballroom. The cocktail hour was great. I am glad we did this. It let everyone mingle & have a drink & snack before entering the ballroom. We chose chicken fingers, vegetable sushi and some other canapés. The chicken fingers & veg sushi were so good. I didn't try the others.
I was a little worried about he ballroom as I didn't think it would have the same tropical feel that the pool Island had.
Julie took me in first to see it. I couldn't believe my eyes.. It was so perfect! Julie had gone over & above to again, exceed my expectations. Thank you so much Julie!
Our guests said they much preferred this location as it was cool and much more private.
Everything happens for a reason and I'm actually glad the weather went the way it did for us on the day. Due to the rain we had the whole beach practically to ourselves & our reception was moved inside which definitely worked out for the best. So ladies, please don't stress about the weather all year like me It will all work out in the end. We were also able to pay & have an extra hour which was a huge bonus to moving inside. Everyone was having way too much fun at 10.30 to stop.
This was definitely due to DJ Mannia. http://www.manniacancun.com.mx/Site/Mannia.html They kept the party going all night. I am so glad we booked them. Our party just wouldn't have gone down the same if we didn't. The staff were amazing at introducing everything. Everyone LOVED them! They are so worth the money! As was the lighted dancefloor. It looks beautiful in our pictures & video.
After the reception we returned to our room to a lovely was a surprise. I'll let you see for your self. The perfect end to the most perfect day!
Oh & Champagne breakfast in bed the next day
Sorry about the long review! Hope it helps all you future brides out there.
My advice is don't stress too much before you go. Everything is going to be perfect on the day. Your co-ordinator is a god send! Nothing is too much trouble for them & they could all do their job with their eyes shut.
We would recommend Dreams Palm Beach to anyone for a holiday & definitely for a wedding. I am so jealous that all you future brides still have your weddings ahead of you. Enjoy!!
I am happy to answer any questions you have.
Lori
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