busybride2012

Hi guys, Sorry it took me so long to get back to you with the details. So my wedding was on September 1 at BBPD. It was amazing. The place was absolutely beautiful and all of my guests had a great time. Susana was more than accommodating. If anyone has her as their wedding coordinator they should feel blessed. She went above and beyond for me and made my day and rest of my trip amazing. We did the ceremony on the beach and had the reception on the beach at a little tiki bar type bar at the very end of the adults only resort. Originally we were supposed to be in the La Palapa which was beautiful, but was apparently double booked. I feel like I got the better end of the deal because all along I wanted to have my reception on the beach and wasn't willing to spend the extra money per person and since they had double booked my location I got the beach reception at no extra charge. The ceremony on the beach did have people around like others have mentioned but we were all so in the moment I didnt even really notice. And it was sweet there were people coming up after congratulation us in so many different languages. A little something extra that not everyone else has is the way I took it! LOL. I am told by others who were at the wedding that security did a great job moving people away from the ceremony location. I didnt notice this, like I said I was in the moment. Then they had the train pick us up and drive the whole wedding party to the reception location. The train was all decorated with white balloons. It was very cute and a great photo opportunity. The reception site was wonderful. I couldn't have asked for anything better. We arrived and started eating our appetizer, which was amazing (It was the curried marinated chicken with tomato), and before the main course could be served you guessed it, it started to rain. Everyone told me rain on your wedding day is good luck so I will take it. I am a very easy going person and don't let things get me down so I just took it in stride. To be honest it made the night more fun. All of us (there were about 40 people in our party) gathered under the tiki bar and started taking shots and it forced everyone together rather than spread out at the tables were there wasn't much togetherness. While we were bellied up at the bar the hotel was relocating our reception to the convention center which they shortly directed us to. When we got there they began serving the main course, which according to the guests was terrible. No one was the least bit concerned though as it really was not their fault. It took about 45 min to an hour to reset the location so the food being already ready to serve at the time it started raining sat for that period of time and I believe got overcooked from the heat lamps. Without me even having to say anything Susana went out of her way to come up to me and offer to have the entire meal remade, or even offered to upgrade to lobster or anything we wanted. At that point we had all already had quite a bit of alcohol and food no longer was a concern so I told her not to worry about it. They felt SO SO bad about it and Marlene came to the reception to try to make things right. They had already upgraded us to club premium upon arrival but due to the food, which I honestly could have cared less about, they upgraded us again to a club premium panoramic suite. OMG, I can't even begin to explain how bad a$$ that room is. Maid service comes 2-3 times a day and it is just immaculate. I would recommend that room to anyone who can afford it. Anyway, back to the details. The flowers were more than I had expected. The options you see online that they send you are but a small glimpse of what they will let you have, and at no extra fee. Susana actually had the florist come and meet me at the appointment and I gave him a swatch from my wedding colors and he got exactly the kind of flowers I wanted and sprayed them my wedding colors. They turned out beautiful. As for a rehearsal dinner, we didn't actually have one but Susana did make reservations for my close family of 8 for the night we arrived at the Japanese restaurant as it is hard to get reservations for any of the a la carte restaurant the night you arrive unless you are club premium. Oh, and on that note, if you or anyone in your party is considering upgrading to Club premium it is a must. I had read that in many reviews but thought it wasn't worth the extra money. My husband and I were treated 100x better by everyone there just because of our fancy wood bracelets as opposed to the plastic ones everyone else has. Club premium has an air conditioned check in room, where you can also go at anytime for questions or dinner reservations. My parents just had a regular room and would go at like 5 and try to get a reservation or change a reservation and they would tell them there was nothing available or they weren't allowed to make them after 4 pm. I would then walk into the club premium office and get the reservation with no questions asked, That whole thing kind of made me mad that my guests were treated in that way simply because they weren't club premium. Anyway, I am going to try and attach some pictures of the whole thing. Oh, and I did fly in my own photographer as it ended up costing about the same amount and we got way more pictures out of the deal. We even went a few days later to the pier and did pictures in my dress in the water and my husband and I jumped off the dock. It was so much fun. The lifeguard came sprinting and blowing his whistle like I was drowning. We had quite the audience but that didnt matter, the pictures turned out awesome. I am still waiting on the biggest chunk of the pics but I have a good array that I will post if possible. If you have any questions you can email me at [email protected]

Hi ladies! I haven't posted in a while but I just wanted to let you all know that I am leaving in two days for my wedding at BBPD. I'm so excited and nervous. I will let you all know how it goes when I get back and try and post some pic as soon as I can. Wish me luck!!!

Trivera5521, could you please send me the color swatches? My email is [email protected] Thank you! busybride

These are the pics my travel agent sent me from the WC. They are a mix of pics from the way my table settings will look (I just can't have it at the bar Higuey since its already booked, I am still so mad about this) and centerpiece upgrades and options for bouquets. She said she is working on getting me pictures of cake options (although I plan on likely sending her a pic of what I want instead) and menus. Apparently if you have a bigger group they are more strict on what they will serve. She also mentioned that there are outside restaurants and that she is going to see if I could have my reception in one of those, since I so desperately don't want to have it in the banquet hall. When I get more pictures I will post them for everyone.

I recently got with my travel agent (who's first language is Spanish, she is located in Florida) and told her about my frustrations with the lack of communication from Marlene. She was able to get through to Marlene and clear up a lot of things in a matter of an hour, imagine that. She said that the price for the beach reception is actually an additional $15. What Marlene apparently means when she says an additional $65 is that its $65 for each person not included in your package (guests 36 and up if you have the tangerine sunset package) and $15 extra for those included in your package. I guess each package is based on a built in price of $50 per person. This is much more reasonable, but still something Im not totally sold on. If I have 50 people that really adds up. I absolutely don't want to have it inside, but its a matter of talking my fiancé into the extra money. He says everyone is going to be on the beach plenty between the ceremony and the rest of the week, so why do we need to pay an extra $750 on top of what we are already paying. Also after reading Sunnys review about the sand blowing all over I am kind of concerned that this would not make for a pleasant dining experience, sand in food is not very tasty! The travel agent also told me Marlene said the extra money spent for the beach wedding will not be refunded if for some reason there is bad weather or they can't do it on the beach. The beach reception is looking less and less exciting the more I think about it. As a general matter I am really laid back when it comes to the details of my wedding, I guess I just get worked up when they start nickel and diming you to death. I feel like they should be bending over backwards to accommodate brides in their requests when we are bringing them so much business. My travel agent also sent me some photos of things, which I don't think I have previously seen on this blog. I don't think I can attach pictures to this site, at least I don't know how, but if anyone is interested I can email them to you. And she did mention the "pinecone centerpiece" that Sunny mentioned. I too will probably upgrade that. It certainly is not cute. Sunny, thanks for the great review. It makes me feel better about everything. However, my fiancé said when we signed up for the destination wedding that he was worried the $4000 we paid that was supposed to include everything was in fact not going to "include everything." I am not looking forward to telling him that he is right, because there are numerous things I want to add. I think I read it somewhere, but can someone refresh my memory as to how much it costs just to reserve the rooftop for a gathering (I think I will go off what Sunny said and just have my guests walk the 30 seconds to the bar that is really close rather than pay an extra 10 per hour for drinks that are already supposed to be all inclusive). Sorry if my message is all over the place! ~busybride~

Hi everyone, I am so extremely relieved to find this site. I have been looking for quite some time for any information confirming the resort is as amazing as it claims to be. I am getting married at the BBPD in September and I have a whole new level of excitement after reading what the other brides have to say. I too have been a little discouraged with the speed with which Marlene replies to my emails. I booked my wedding and room reservation way back in November and Marlene has yet to get with me on any details other than confirming that I am having a beach ceremony. I'm a law student getting ready to graduate this weekend and take the bar exam only a month before departing for the Dominican. So, to say the least I am stressed to the max.Tonight I sent Marlene an email asking her about the Bar Higuey and a beach reception, I am doing the tangerine sunset package. I understand from site that Bar Higuey is included in that package. I am very happy to hear that. I would be thrilled with either the Bar or the beach, but I am not willing to pay an additional $65 per person for a bar reception. I read that in someone's message, am I correct that is the price with the Tangerine package? I expect to have between 40-60 people attend. Its really up in the air right now as so many people are currently on the fence about attending, but it is at least 40. If those of you who mentioned having pictures wouldn't mind would you please send them to me? The Barcelo website doesn't have much in the way of photos of any ceremonies or receptions, which I find odd. Anyway, my email is [email protected]. Thanks in advance!