DVra

Hey Ju, No we didn't have a private dinner, as we only had 9 ppl in our wedding party. We had the reception at Il Capriccio (Italian restaurant), the food was really good. Some things that I learnt from my experience at Bahia: The WC should be the person you go to if you have any concerns or problems (even if it's not directly related to the wedding), e.g. we requested for an upgrade of our suite after our wedding and though the hotel initially said they couldn't do it, we went and spoke to our WC and she made a few phone calls and voila we got upgraded from Bavaro to Esmeralda. You will have a meeting with the WC when you get there. That's when you'll get to choose your flowers, cake (bring a pic of a cake that you really like), ribbons for the chairs etc. Bring an ipod/CD with all the music that you would like to be played during the ceremony If you're planning on getting your hair done at the spa, they have a free trial session. So do take advantage of that. They have a book of pictures of different hairstyles that you can choose from or you can bring your own pic of what you want your hair to look like. I didn't know that, so I wasn't prepared and didn't bring any pics with me. I ended up getting my hair done at the spa, but I was not happy with how it came out. My hairstyle came apart in the time that it took me to get back to my room. Word of advice, bring your own curling/flatenning iron, hairspray etc if you can. My maid of honour ended up re- doing my hair and it came out amazing. I really regret spending close to a $100 on my hairstyle that had to be redone anyways! Another thing which I wasn't aware is that the there is a new law in DR and Judge no longer comes to the resort to conduct the ceremony. We had a civil ceremony, so what ended up happening is that, the ceremony took place on the June 14th and the wedding coordinator officiated. Then on the 16th we had to go off the resort with our witnesses, to the judges office and sign the official wedding certificate. The hotel makes the appointment with the Judge and provides the transportation, so you don't have to worry abt that. If you can try to have your ceremony earlier in the afternoon, so you have plenty of time to take pics on the beach after. It get dark pretty quickly in the evening, and the pictures taken after sunset don't come out as well as the ones taken during the day

Hey girl! I just got married there 3 wks ago and we stayed in the Esmeralda section. It's a much newer section compared to the rest of the resort and our room was fabulous! Our ceremony was held at the white gazebo which gives you more privacy. If you prefer privacy I would suggest avoid doing the ceremony on the beach as you'll have crowds of strangers gawking at you the whole time. We used the on-site photographer, Eric (Arrecife) and the pictures came out great. Everyone loved them! Luz Maria, the WC was amazing, she went above and beyond to make our day special