ablj209

We had 11 guests that travelled with us. We were all on the same flight and arrived on Tuesday, the wedding was Saturday and all the guests went home the following Tuesday (including my stepkids). Hubby and I stayed at the resort for another week, just the two of us!

@swojdyla - what day did you have planned? I kept thinking weddings are supposed to be on Saturday, but once I got there, I realized that no one has to worry about taking time off work etc, and since we are all there for a week (hubby & I for 2), as long as you meet the 3 day requirement for the legal ceremony, you can get married any day during the week!! Our ceremony was at 4pm. This was perfect - enough time and sunlight to get the group photos done on the beach & at the fountain and then have our guests head off to the lobby bar while hubby & I got some more photos of the two of us taken in the gardens. We wandered through the hotel with our photographer and met up with our group about 5:30. We sat and had a drink with them before heading down to the Steakhouse for our 6:00 reception.

@swojdyla - the private reception at the steakhouse would be booked as first come, first serve. If you tell Maria & Magnolia that you want to book it and no one else has requested it, they will open the restaurant for lunch and then close it off completely around 3:00 to start setting up for your reception. Any other weddings taking place that day will have to have their reception at another location (Main Buffet or Fuzion @ Palace Macao).

@TaraBella - congrats on your upcoming wedding! OOT stands for "Out of Town". OOT bags are typically gifts/souvenirs that are given from the bride and groom to their guests who travel with them to the DW. Usually the items are customized with the names, date and location of the wedding and contains travel mugs, first aid kits, a brochure containing hotel/area details, wedding timeline, some fun things - playing cards, puzzles and anything else that might be useful. A chuppa is an upgrade to the ceremony site (wooden structure in this pic)

@Lindsay22 - I ordered my Johnson & Johnson kits from Ebay. I was able to buy in bulk and even with shipping, I got a better deal than the $1.50 each that Walmart was selling them for. The kits only come with bandaids and guaze, all the extra "meds" were purchased from Walmart & Dollarama.

Lindsay22 - #2 - Free delivery - we arranged to have our OOT bags delivered the first night while we were all out at dinner. I had to write the room numbers on each bag and let the front desk know when we were going for dinner so they could drop them off. I only had 9 bags, so if you have a lot more, they may charge for this service. #3 - All my decorations were included. The only upgrade I enquired about was the chuppa which was $400 to rent. I decided to stick with the palm arches and they were beautiful. They were decorated with purple and white orchids to match our bouquets.

jenthony - Caribbean Emotions was fantastic! He was very creative and had us doing some funky poses (we love one that he called Peek-a-Boo). If you have any ideas that you want, just let him know and he'll make sure you get the shot! Here are some pics... http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/thread/56765/riu-palace-punta-cana-feb-26-2011-updated-w-pics/50 We had our reception at the Steakhouse.. There was plenty of food for us and remember, if the guys are still hungry, the RIU offers 24hr room service and there are snacks in the Sports Bar (also open 24hrs) so they can grab some more food there

Awesome news! You won't be disappointed! Michael was great to work with, he took amazing photos and had everything printed and back to us at the hotel 3 days later! The coffee table book is fantastic, everyone loves it and I love showing it off to friends and family!

We used Michael Weiler. He was fantastic! Check out his site.. http://caribbeanemotions.com/

I made the OOT bags here (mostly through vistaprint) and took them down myself. I had the Riu bellhops deliver them to the rooms while we were all out at dinner the first night. It was a nice surpise for my guests, everyone was thanking me for them the next day.

I just looked at their website and I think it has changed a bit since I ordered them. I actually found them through Ebay and was able to buy a bag of 50 starfish for $35.. Much better than $0.99 per starfish!

I also live in Ontario and had no problem having starfish shipped from Florida Shells & Gifts! http://www.floridashellsandgifts.net/servlet/StoreFront

@jessop022 - sorry, since my wedding was only 11 guests and fell within the Royal Package allowance of up to 15 guests, I never enquired as to how much it would cost for additional guests.

Some people have enquired about the setup for the Steakhouse. Here are all the pics / layouts that I have. Hope this helps! The steakhouse can accomodate up to 300 guests. If you have a smaller party (just dinner, no dancing), they can set up the table on the dancefloor which is away from the regular diners ~ almost a private reception without paying the extra cost. My reception (one large table for 13 people) set up on the dance floor. Photo from WC Another from WC Steak House set up.-2.ppt

I stayed at the Riu Palace Punta Cana and the beach party was held by the Riu Bambu (next door). It was one of the scheduled events by the animation club, so instead of having the theatre show (eg. Michael Jackson), everyone headed down to the beach for the party where they had music and a bar set up. My husband and I walked along the boardwalk every night and passed this one night (can't remember which night it was held) when they were doing the kids party. We chose to stay and watch the show at our hotel instead and didn't get to see the adult party.