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Hi Ladies, I'm a newbie and just started my wedding planning process. I grew up in the DR but live in the states now. Naturally I wanted to go back home to get married. I am looking at Melia Caribe Tropical as it seems the most affordable for guest without sacrificing quality not to mention its looks amazing. I was wondering if anyone had additional details on pricing. I'm looking to get married October 2016 and wanted to start finalizing location by the year end. Has anyone have a medium size wedding (75 guest)? Is there a cost per head for a private reception and the ceremony? What kind of group rates were available for guest? Did the hotel do any additional comp for extra business you brought in with your guest? like offer free welcoming reception or free hotel nights etc (i did look at hardrock and they had a comp for the number of nights the wedding party booked) Also Photographers & videographers, recommendations? Also was there additional costs to bring someone from the outside? Did anyone have a photobooth? Flowers? DJ? Any information will be help as i'm working on our budget and we're looking to save as much as possible. Thank you in advance!

Today felt like a horrible nightmare that I keep hoping I'm going to wake up from. We've had our wedding booked for April 9th at the Ocean Coral & Turquesa for past last 4 months. We've been beyond excited.. created cool website with pics... printed invites & save the dates.. Just really fell in love with the property (sans seaweed issues :-) But found out today that the travel agent we've been working with didn't hold the rooms (and didn't inform us on how important and urgent it was to put them on hold) and now the entire hotel is full. No Vacancy. Sold out until the day after our wedding. I'm not typically a "drama mama" but today, I'm Totally Freaking Out! We need to find another 3.5 to 5star all-inclusive venue in PDC, with a similar price point, that's available on April 9th (or worse case senario, the 10th). And can also accommodate 40-60 rooms for our guests. Help! Fellow Brides & wedding angels... I need a Miracle✨????????✨ Milagro :-) Any suggestions or quick tips you can offer are warmly welcomed!

My fiancé and I currently have a 5 month old who was born at 28 weeks, at this time planning a big wedding at home is just too much on our plates so a destination wedding sounds great. My fiance wants somewhere that our son can go. We just got the green light from the Dr. that the trip will be okay, with some precautions. Has anyone had any issues with bringing a small child along? Any modifications they made to the wedding or reception? Did they bring a nanny or use family to help? We have been working out the details with coordinator at Now Larmier for late May, but still open to ideas if anyone has suggestions for a resort that would be better for working with us and our small child. Just want to get those little things sorted now so I can focus on the good stuff. =)

Hi I recently got engaged and I was wondering if any one else on the forum is following Kayla Itsiness' BBG program! I started early January so I'm on week 11 now. But now that I'm engaged I feel like I need to keep it up until the wedding so that I can be on the best shape of my life for that day! The only downside is that we all have busy lives so doing the program was taking a big chunk of my free time and now I get to add to all of that planning a wedding! Overwhelmed doesn't even start to describe it! So, I figured, I couldn't be the only one in this situation and thought I could reach out to my fellow bbgbrides so that we can support one another. As I mentioned before, I'm on week 11 and as I'm almost done with the program I don't know what to do next to keep it up? BBG 2.0? or a second round of BBG 1.0? Has anyone finished the program already? What are you doing to stay in shape? Hope to hear from you soon!

Hello I was wondering if anyone knew where the location of this church is? And what the church is called? I was told it is in the Dominican Republic - Punta Cana; apparently. Is anyone able to confirm? TIA!

I realize Cuba is not open to the states residents, I'm Canadian and looking to get married at the Casa del Marin Cayo Santa Maria. It doesn't open until winter .. I'm so nervous about booking a wedding at a hotel before its even open. Is anyone else thinking of getting married here? Could use some support!

So my fiancè & I have narrowed it down to a handful of Adults Only resorts in Punta Cana to tie the knot! Our top choice at this point is Barcelo Bavaro Beach Resort, but I am having a hard time finding recent wedding reviews from the resort! Have any other brides booked or thinking about booking this resort for their wedding? How many guests are you planning to attend? Reviews are so mixed for ALL of the resorts we have looked at! I am trying to take it with a grain of salt, but it is so difficult since our financial situation does not allow us to take a trip prior to! Thanks for any and all advice, tips, reviews and stories in advance! Happy planning brides & congrats to you all!

Hi Ladies! I believe DW doesn't need much decor, but still some details could be cute. I decided to do some DIY stuff and obviously went to Michaels. From your experience does Michels have good prices? Can you compare it to Dollar store or any other stores? What have you DIY? P.S. Since my main color most likely will be coral, I didn't see many things in that color (( Any advice? Thank you!

We arrived on Sunday and stayed three nights at Royalton Punta Cana in a lovely Luxury Ocean View room. The room was very nice with one king bed, pull out sofa, table and chairs in the room and chairs and small table on the balcony. The bathrooms are not overly large but definitely adequate with a single sink and separate toilet & walk in shower area. We were very impressed with the service. Everyone was extremely friendly and helpful. Since we always have to work when we travel the unlimited wifi and free calling to the USA was a huge benefit. We did find that the wifi worked best outside on the balcony or in the open areas of the resort. The food was great, we had dinner in the steakhouse, Asian and Italian restaurants and they were all great. We typically had breakfast in the buffet and it was good, nice presentation and good variety. We didn't get a chance to dine at Opa or the Tapas restaurant. You only need a reservation for the Asian restaurant but they have 5 Teppanyaki tables that sat 12 - 13 at each and a sushi bar that you can access anytime without reservations. One of my favorite areas was the coffee house where you can get a variety of coffees, pastries, sandwiches and ice cream. There is an inside and outside patio area and it was very relaxing to have my coffee, relax and work from this area. At night there is a Martini bar adjacent to the coffee house and many times they had live music going in this area at night. They had staff continually cleaning off tables as people came and went. Grazie the Italian restaurant is open for lunch buffet and they also are open 11PM - 6AM with a snack buffet. We have a copy of all of the bars & restaurants and their hours that we will send once we get home and can scan it to send. The pool and beach areas were very nice. They had different activities going on each day, one day they had a mechanical bull, a blow up obstacle course in the pool, zumba int eh afternoon and everyone seemed to be having a great time. The beach was nice, had some seaweed but that happens on all the beaches and they did a good job of raking it up in the morning. Personally I am not a big beach person so we spent time at the pool when we could squeeze and hour or so of free time. The overall grounds were very nice. It's not a large resort, activities, restaurants and pools are mainly located off the main courtyard area. You could get anywhere easily and quickly and meeting ups with people will be easy. The main lobby and bar is a great meet up area and since it's on the upper level and open air you get a nice breeze through there. We checked out the theater, disco, sports lounge & casino. The sports lounge has an area that becomes the disco at night and since were there on Super Bowl Sunday they had a big Super Bowl party going on in the sports lounge and the main theater with a huge big screen. There was a burger stand and area with sandwiches and desserts in the foyer outside of the theater and inside they had a popcorn machine, cotton candy machine and a full bar going. They have this type of set up for any major sports event. We peeked in the theater during one of the shows and it was crowded and looked like everyone was enjoying the show. The casino is fairly large (for a resort casino) but wasn't very busy when we looked in. It's open until 2AM so possible it gets busier later after the shows. The main lobby is on the second level and open air. It's large and has a large bar with several sofas and chairs throughout. It's a great area to gather with a group. The lower section below the main lobby is where the spa, gym, shops and pick up/drop off for the resort tram and excursion buses are located. We toured Memories and information is below. The tram between Memories and Royalton runs 24/7 about every 10 minutes or so. You could also walk but I wouldn't suggest that in the heat. Guests who stay at Memories only have access to the beach, pools and the beach bar/snack shack. However, guests at memories can buy an access pass to Royalton which also includes access to the restaurants & bars for $15 per person/per day. Guests who purchase this day pass receive a second resort bracelet. Memories and Royalton share one "Kds Club" & "Teen Club" and they are both located at Memories. All staff members are trained in child safety and CPR. The Kids Club was very nice with indoor activity areas and an outdoor playground area. They have a schedule of activities but they do not "force" any child to participate. Age requirements for the Kid Club are 4 - 12 yrs. Children under 4 yrs can participate in the Kids Club if you hire a one to one nanny for them. One to one nanny service is available for $15 per hour/per child and must be arranged 24 hours in advance. The waterpark is awesome but all children under 12 MUST be accompanied by an adult. The Kids Club does not take children swimming at the beach, pools or waterpark for safety reasons. --

Hi dear BDW ladies! I'm very new to the forum and i found that you are all very helpful! Can someone please explain to me why does the number of guests matter in an all inclusive package? The food and drinks are included anyway right? so why does the price for the wedding change if you have 30 or 60 guests? What's the difference? Thank you!