angieinthesun11

Hi Ladies, Looking to connect with brides who wed at Dreams Punta Cana. It has been almost six months and I still have not received my legal documents. Did any one else have to wait this long??

That's what bridesmaids are for!!! I brought my own centre pieces, giveaways and hanging decorations. MY coordinator had it all setup exactly how I asked. I packed them all in three separate carry-on bags and gave one bag to each of my bridesmaids. They were more than happy to help:) It was WAY cheaper bringing my own. I even purchased all my chair sashes on ebay for $0.60 each. The resort charges $5 per chair! Hope that helps.

Hi Elissa - here are some answers that I hope will help you out: -we booked the ultimate package. It comes with the Gold dinner and silver bar. However we are almost at 60 people booked and may be forced to get a buffet - not too crazy about that idea but whatever. Now...will they deduct the amount of the gold dinner from the ultimate package if I'm now paying for a buffet? Has anyone else run into this??? We almost decided to have the buffet even though we were only 34 but changed our minds closer to the date. I will say that for 60 people a buffet may be your best option in order to accommodate allergies, and food preferences however it can certainly add up price-wise. The buffet menu looks really good though! My coordinator Gara had confirmed that there would be a difference in the charges for up to 20 people with the ultimate wedding package if you have the buffet so that will help. -my ceremony is at 6, cocktail hour is from 7-8 and reception (portofino 8-9). I'm trying to schedule pictures - did anyone just end up missing cocktail hour because of pics? I hate to do that but I don't think I will have a choice unless I want to see my fiancé before the ceremony (which wouldn't be completely awful but still) If you have the ultimate wedding package keep in mind that you will have the terrace for three full hours, which means you could have your ceremony at 6, cocktails from 7-8 and the terrace from 8-11 (but it may only go until 10- but ask your coordinator. We had the terrace for a 3 hour dinner.) My fiancé and I did our pictures after the ceremony with our bridal party. We did not participate in the cocktail hour which is pretty normal for weddings. It's a great way to get your photos done. Keep in mind that the sun sets around 7'oclock so you'll want to do them right away. We had a 4 pm ceremony and did our pictures between 5 and 6:30 and had a 7p.m dinner. During our photos we did all of our family shots and a group photo and then shots with just the wedding party. Who did you book for your photography? In order to make sure you get all the photos you want be sure to make a list for your photographer i.e.: photo with you and so and so.... I made a list quickly and completely forgot to add obvious photos like one with my maid of honour.... needless to say, I don't have any solo shots with my bridesmaids individually. Oh well. Just something to keep in mind.... Hope the sun doesn't set on you! -we r having a symbolic ceremony - is this performed in English? Symbolic will be performed by your coordinator in english. We wrote our own nd had my brother perform the symbolic part and then we had the coordinator and judge do the legal part. I highly recommend having someone you are close to perform the symbolic ceremony. That way it will be more personal and reflective of you and your fiancé. -for anyone who had the buffet - does that also include open bar? I think Carolina said it did come with the silver bar? Yes it comes with the silver bar menu. It also includes wine with dinner (and the wine was pretty good). If you are on the Portofino Terrace the bar is literally right there. -we r having a dj (mannia) and I'm having the carribean trio play at cocktail hour. Do the WCs offer options on what I walk down the aisle too? Or am I responsible for this? I think they may but you should bring your own on an iPod. I gave my iPod to our coordinator the morning of the ceremony. We had one song playing on loop while people were taking their seats, another song for when my bridesmaids and I walked down the aisle and a third song for when we exited. My advice, bring as much as you can if you want it to be more personal. They do a great job at taking care of everything but I would't leave the some of the finer details up to them... just my opinion. Hope this helped! Angela

Yes, we were able to choose our own flowers for the bouquets and boutonnieres. We also got to choose for the centrepieces at the ceremony and our head table. They had a lot to choose from. I brought my own centrepieces down and they were arranged exactly how I asked. We chose the vanilla cake. I think you can choose between almond, vanilla and chocolate. It was absolutely delicious!! I brought my own cake decorations too so as it went with our decor theme. I did my own makeup but the girl at the spa did an amazing job on my hair. I just brought a picture and she made it look fabulous!!

Yes, we paid for both the photographer and videographer. It was $79 each.

We had no trouble with having two photographers onsite however sometimes it may have looked a bit busy as they were all trying to get the same shot. I thought that I would see a camera man in most of my pictures but that was not the case. Most of the shots were duplicate between the resort photographers and Caribbean Emotions. I felt that the 50 photos from the resort were just a bonus as they print them. You will not be disappointed with Caribbean Emotions. I highly recommend the Trash the Dress session - it was so worth it!! Hope it is a dream for you!

Here is the pic from our Trash the Dress session.

We just got back from our amazing trip to Dreams Punta Cana and the most perfect wedding! I have to say, maybe I just don't sweat the small stuff, but I can honestly say that we had the most amazing trip and the most incredible wedding! I really don't have any thing negative to say. It was a dream come true! The Resort - was beautiful. We really lucked out and had the best weather all week long. It only rained one day and that was on our last day, so we were lucky. The resort was big enough where if you wanted some alone time you could find a nice quiet spot but it was also easy to find your friends and family. We had 34 guests total and we were always able to get a chair on the beach and hang out together. It was nice that they had servers on the beach so you didn't always have to get up and go to the bar. The water was also beautiful. They have a great spot sectioned off to swim. There were no rocks there and was very sandy. The staff there were AMAZING! Our housekeeper was fabulous. All of the wait staff were a lot of fun and always ver accommodating. I don't think that I have ever been to a resort with more friendly staff. Out whole group kept commenting on the amazing service. The Food - was really good. The World Cafe was great for your buffet lunches and breakfast. Their pizza is reallllly good! We would grab a bite after the disco and ordered it in the room while my bridesmaids and I got ready for the wedding. The a la carte restaurants were really good. My favourite was the Portofino. Really yummy Italian. In any case, you will not be disappointed with the food. The Rooms- We had upgraded to the Honeymoon Suite which was perfect for me and my girls to get ready in. We had the jacuzzi tub on the balcony which the one time we tried to fill it, the water pressure was low and it took too long. We didn't really care as we wanted to spend our time on the beach and outdoors anyways. Because we had upgraded to the honeymoon suite we were able to receive a massage for two and two facials or body scrubs. Which was really wonderful. Our guests had no trouble with their room either. Our family had requested adjoining rooms and at first did not receive them but were quickly arranged to have the adjoining rooms. Nothing can be perfect but with a little patience, things will be arranged. The Spa- totally worth it. I had three massages while I was there. Totally worth it. They know what they are doing. The actual spa is very beautiful. Check it out early in the week and book (mind you I was able to book last minute with no problems). They have specials throughout the week. A lot of our friends took advantage of the 2 for 1 massages offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays which ended up being a 50 minute massage for $60 - pretty great deal. I had my hair done for the wedding and brought in a photo of what I wanted and she nailed it! My hair looked exactly how I wanted and it stayed in place all day! Photography - we had 50 photos included in our package with the resort photographer. The pics were actually very nice. Don't forget that you have to go to the photo desk and pick out your photos for printing if you have this in your package (we had the ultimate wedding package). That was the only thing our coordinator forgot to mention. I was literally about to leave and my step-mother said that they were looking for me to choose the photos. Luckily I was able to choose in time. Keep in mind that they need to develop them and it takes a day. Just a word to the wise. We ended up going with Caribbean Emotions with Michael Weiller and his brother Pascal. If you have not booked your photographer yes, BOOK WITH THEM! They were absolutely AMAZING! We went with the photographer and videographer package that was $1100 (totally worth it). Our pics were amazing and they were so perfect to work with! The hour and a half video was also perfect!!! We added the reception for $200 and the trash the dress session for $300. Totally worth it. We got some amazing photos from the reception and they captured all of our dances and speeches in the video that was so great to have. The best part - we got to come home with all of our photos! These guys work so hard. All our photos were edited and burned on to disk. We have all the rights to them too. We took home over 1500 photos. And they are all beautiful!! I am telling you - you will not be disappointed with their work!! Trash the Dress - DO IT! I had the most amazing time at my wedding and reception. My dress was dirty at the bottom from walking around all night in it. I didn't care cause I knew we would be trashing it the next day. So glad I did. I would rather keep the photo memories than my dress. I am still going to get my dress dry-cleaned but in any case, I was fine with it. The pics are amazing and the video is cool too! Here is the link to our TTD video - The Wedding - was a dream. Gara was our wedding coordinator and she was amazing! We met on the day after we arrived. I had brought all of my own centrepieces, table place cards, chair sashes, table runners, candles and loot bags. I had listed how I wanted everything set up and she did it exactly ho I wanted - perfectly! It was so beautiful. We had the Portofino terrace and it looked like a dream. Our ceremony was on the beach and was so beautiful. I honestly would not have changed a thing. The cake was lovely too. I brought some of our own decorations for the cake and attached it to a picture of how I wanted it to look and it was great! We didn't add extra to the cake as there was more than enough! And it was delicious!! We had the ultimate wedding package which included Gold Menu for 20 people so we added the extra and were able to add two kids meals. We had the beef medallions and shrimp, lobster bisque and salad. It was really good! They were also able to accommodate allergies with no problem. We brought all of our own music on an iPod and it worked out perfectly. It really made it more personal to what we wanted. We were able to have the Portofino until 10 and then we all headed to the disco where we danced all night. It was such a great party!! That is all I can think of for now... if any of you have any questions, please feel free to email me at [email protected]

All the best and congratulations on your big day! I will be there in less than 28 days!!!

Past brides and upcoming brides - what is the deal with the bar service for the reception? We have purchased the ultimate wedding package and it includes dinner for up to 20 guests (we will pay the difference for the rest). I received a bar menu and it las $160 /an hour for 20people and $8.per person per hour - are alcoholic drinks included with the dinner or not?? I assumed that they were. I emailed our coordinator and am awaiting her reply but thought would reach out to you ladies. Also - did any of you past brides have wine or champagne? This wasn't listed on the bar menu and I love the bubbly!!

Thanks so much for all the info Mel - your pics are great and this has really helped! We are doing the legal ceremony and trying to get my brother to officiate a symbolic part of the ceremony and have the judge finish off with the legal part. This has actually proven to be a bit tricky in communication with our coordinator but I think once we get down there we will be able to figure it out. Hope you had an amazing time!!!

You both looked beautiful! Congratulations! We are getting married on Nov 25th and also doing a beach ceremony and reception on Portofino! I would love if you could provide me wit some info and any tips! Did you provide your own music? If so, how did the sound system work? Did you use a mic during your ceremony? How was their flower selection? Did you have a cake and if so, how was it? Did you decorate for the ceremony at all? What's the space like on Portofino. We would like to avoid a head table and rather have a sweetheart table. What did you do? Any pointers or tips would be so helpful! I would love to see some pics of the space (if that is ok with you, otherwise - no problem!!) My email is [email protected] Congrats again to you both!!!!

Thanks so much for all the info Subbi - my apologies - I think my mac did an autocorrect. I just realized I spelled your name wrong. That info was so helpful. You really were stunning. I am so relieved that the spa does such a wonderful job! That was probably my biggest fear! LOL

Subib- you were such a GORGEOUS bride!! Congrats!! I will be getting married this November 25th. We are having our ceremony on the beach and cocktails and dinner reception on the bordeaux terrace. I have a few questions: Hair- did you get your hair done at the salon? I LOVE it!! What about makeup? Did you have a dinner? How was it? So it looks like you didn't have ny trouble getting your decorations up. That's good news as we're bringing all of our own. What are your thoughts on the cake? Was it nice. Any suggestions? Did you bring an iPod for your music? Your bouquet- amazing!!! Any other tips and suggestions would be great. Again... You looked stunning! Thanks! Angie

I'm confused! I thought that at Dreams PC there was only one wedding per day!? There was another wedding before yours??