Majestic Elegance Wedding Review

Hi ladies, it's been almost a month since our wedding but it feels much longer than that. Mike and I have always wanted a destination wedding so that we could get married on the beach and choosing Majestic Elegance was the best decision.

We originally planned on getting married in Anguilla last year but life got in the way and we decided to postpone our wedding. Then in October we took a trip to Punta Cana and fell in love with the Majestic, the resort was so beautiful and we thought that it was the perfect beach to have a ceremony on. We decided that we've waited far too long to get married and booked the wedding for a mere 3 months later, January 25th, at the Majestic Elegance.

Travel Arrangements

All our travel arrangements were handled by a TA through Travel Impressions/VIP which I regret because I think that I could have found better rates without her help. Most of our guests were coming from NY-JFK and the 4 night stay cost approx $900 pp. Mike and I arrived at the Majestic a few days before all our guests which was a great idea because it gave us an opportunity to relax and enjoy each other before the big day, plus it was the only time that we took advantage of the Elegance Club and our suite since our guests did not stay in the club. The day before all our guests were arriving, we visited the manager, Orlando at the front desk to request that all of our guests' rooms be ready by the time of their arrival. We wanted to make sure that everything went smoothly so we went over the list of guests checking in and informed him of which guests needed which rooms (double beds for families, king beds for couples, etc). Unfortunately this proved worthless because several of our guests ended up waiting for a few hours until their rooms were ready. We met all our guests in the lobby which was very emotional because I had several family members come to the wedding that I haven't seen in many years. Everyone was very impressed with the beauty of the lobby and the gorgeous views of the beach from the lobby. The waitress and bell boys did a great job of bringing everyone cold drinks and hot towels.

Wedding Coordinator

Yadilis was our wedding coordinator and since day 1 she has always been a pleasure to work with. She responded to all my emails promptly, usually within a day. Two days before our wedding we met with Yadilis and we went over all the details of the set up, ceremony, decorations and flowers. I was a bit disappointed that the flower arrangement that I originally wanted was not available so I had to choose new table arrangements and bouquet. In the end, I was happy with the beautiful lillies that I received but they were not my first choice since I had a beautiful arrangement prepared in NY that I wanted to have replicated in Punta Cana, but unfortunately it was not possible. We gave Yadilis a generous tip and a Lancome perfume gift set, I think that this helped with the negotiations since she did not charge us for a few extras although she did comment that tips or gifts were not necessary or required.

Rehearsal Dinner

We had one long table set up at Sea & See restaurant for our rehearsal dinner. We asked Yadilis to set this up for us and it worked out perfectly. We had a dedicated wait staff which was led by Carlos, he was very efficient and took good care of all our guests (although the food took long to receive).

Day of the Wedding

I set the alarm for 7 am because I didn't want to feel overwhelmed preparing for the day. When I woke up I was devastated to see overcast skies and huge gloomy clouds. This was my worst fear about having a beach ceremony and I just burst into tears. This was obviously a very emotional day but I wasn't expecting to be this emotional. I was a wreck the entire day which I regret because this was the first time that I turned into bridezilla during the entire planning process. I was fighting with Mike over stupid things and I now feel so guilty that I spent the entire morning of my wedding day hating my soon to be husband. Wow the hormones were going overboard.

Mike and I brought over all the decorations that we brought with us to Yadilis' office at the Colonial and she assured us that everything would be set up as we requested. At this point it was around 10 am and fairly sunny but Yadilis warned that there was a chance of rain the entire day and wanted to know where we wanted our backup ceremony and reception. I stopped her mid sentence and told her that it will NOT rain and I don't want to hear anything about back up plans - yes I was bridezilla at this point. Of course I was nervous about rain the entire day but I just kept praying that it wouldn't rain.

Around 11 am, the hair and makeup artist met me in my room to start beautifying me. At about 12 pm Photophil showed up to my room and shortly afterwards Florian of Videopuntacana showed up as well. I ordered room service at this point as Phil requested but of course I was too nervous to eat anything. Both Phil and Florian were excellent to work with and they really helped to ease my nerves. Phil just has this calming trait which really made me feel comfortable and I even forgot about all those dark clouds looming out the window. About an hour before the ceremony, it started to rain but surprisingly I was ok with this since I knew that the rain would last for a few minutes and pass, well I was right, the rain did pass a few minutes later and the sun came out and it was gorgeous outside. I was supposed to be ready at 2 pm for Yadilis to come meet me in the Elegance Club and walk over together to the ceremony site at the Colonial but I was running very far behind. I was having too much fun with my MOH, mom, dad and makeup artist in the room that I was losing track of time. I don't think that we left the room until about 2:30, already 30 minutes late to my own wedding. One of the bell boys Armando was gracious enough to pick us up in a golf cart and drove us over to the ceremony site. Just as I was getting out of the golf cart and Yadilis was informing us of the procession, it started to POUR - first from the sky then from my eyes. Armando quickly put the golf cart in reverse and drove us to the elegance club. I saw all our guests run for cover in the colonial. The rain lasted for about 10 minutes and then all the clouds passed, allowing the sun to shine through. So we tried it again. My MOH and flower girl/ring boy walked down the aisle to Somewhere over the Rainbow and I walked to Pachabel Canon in D. The ceremony site was set up beautifully and I was trying my hardest not to cry as I was walking to my soon to be husband. Pastor York performed our ceremony which brought all our guests to tears. His speech was beautiful and very meaningful to both of us. We had a sand ceremony which was very nice. After the ceremony, we had a champagne toast with our guests and proceeded to take photos with Phil, first on the beach then we migrated to the lobby for individual photos. We took photos with Phil for the next few hours which was quite exhausting because he requested us to get into several acrobatic/yoga type positions which I was not ready for, especially wearing a petitcoat. I am sure that all of Phil's photos will be amazing and well worth it. After the photos, we met our guests at the Wet Bar for our dinner reception. The tables were set up inside the bar (under the palapa) in case it rained again. I was not thrilled with the set up since it felt very cramped but I guess it was better than having drenched tables and food in case it rained. We decided not to have a private bar because the cost was ridiculous, so we picked up a few bottles of cognac and vodka at the duty free shops, which is what most of our Russian guests preferred. Carlos was our main waiter again and he did a great job. The tables looked beautiful except the gorgeous candles I brought would not stay lit because it was so windy. All of the flowers from the ceremony were brought over to the reception and used as decorations on the bar and buffet. DJ Mannia did a great job of MC'ng the party and really got everyone to dance. We gave Alex/Carlos a list of our must play songs and also gave him a CD with Russian songs to play. The music was good and I danced the entire night away. The evening flew by and if I could change anything, I would have extended the 3.5 hours that we had to at least 4.5 or 5 hours.

The only thing that upset me about the wedding was that my iphone was stolen from my table and used by someone in the DR. I didn't shut off my service until the day after the wedding because I thought that maybe my phone was misplaced, but it turned out that it was actually stolen because several calls were made to Dominican phone numbers. This pissed me off because it had to have been someone working at the wedding. I thought that we gave all the waiters very generous tips, for the 3 waiters and 2 bartenders, we gave Carlos $300 to split amongst his group so I was upset that someone would take my phone, especially since I had pictures there that I didn't sync

The Day After

We received our room service and ate on our huge balcony, our suite had 2 balconys, one of which included a jacuzzi that was entirely private (I still don't understand the balconys that have jacuzzis in full view of the resort??). We spent most of the day at the beach and in the evening we had our private dinner on the beach. I believe that this was arranged by Wilkins the Elegance Club manager because I believe the dinner that is part of the wedding package is generally held at Sea& See. The beach dinner at the ceremony site was amazing and we sat there for almost 2 hours, it was very chilly so we cozied up under the pool towels. The private dinner was delicious and very memorable. We head over to the lobby and enjoyed the Karaoke show.

After our guests left, Mike and I extended our stay in Punta Cana and transferred to the Iberostar Grand which was absolutely amazing. The Grand is a gorgeous resort and the food there is 5 star. We had a great time at both Majestic and the Grand, and now I'm sad that it's all over. LOL

Here are some pictures of the event.

Getting ready the day of the wedding

My dress after it was steamed by the Majestic staff

Waiting for the rain to pass in the Elegance Club

Walking down the aisle

During the ceremony

Sealing the deal

The ceremony site

Some decorations

The Wet Bar Set up

The first dance

Some photophil poses

It seems like you had a great time! (except for the phone) but congrats and you looked AMAZING!

This is the day after private dinner on the beach:

We took trash the dress photos at Iberostar Grand with Huelas del Caribe, our photographer Milan was amazing, these are his pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...8&l=ecb4799710

I hope to have Phil's TTD photos in the next few weeks.

You said you had a make up and hair person come to the resort. Who did this and how did you find this? This is something I am interested in! Please let me know. Also, your day sounded wonderful and you looked beautiful! I am using Phil and Florian too and I am so glad you have great things to say about each! Thanks for the review!

Eliana, thank you. It was a great day, even the rain was fun in retrsopect.

MexicoBeachBride - I had a professional hair/makeup artist come to Majestic for 2 days. He is based in NY but he does travel for destination weddings. He is HIGHLY recommended. He did a really good job and also brightened my mood the day of the wedding with his eccentric outgoing personality. His name is Didi Benabo, if you are on facebook, you can find him there or I can give you his contact info if you are interested.

Everything looks beautiful! Im supposed to get married there in 2011! We think the private bar is ridiculous too! Did you pay for a regular bartender though?

Adenen - thank you. We didn't pay for a bartender. The waiters poured drinks for our guests, mainly shots of vodka and glasses of champagne/wine. I don't think that it makes sense to have a private bar at an all inclusive especially at their high hourly rates per person. It's crazy.

Congrats on your wedding and thank you for sharing your experience with us! I am considering the Majestic for my wedding in July 2011 and agree that the open bar prices are ridiculous. If you don't purchase a open bar package, do they provide soft drinks or juice or anything with the dinner? I don't think I want to see my friends after a few hrs of only being able to drink shots! lol Thanks!!