We announced our engagement and told our friends and family that it was going to be a destination wedding, but we didn’t know where yet. Over the years of being together we had traveled to different places down in the Caribbean and we thought that since our first trip together as a couple was down in the Dominican Republic, we would get married there as well.

We both loved the people and the country of the Dominican Republic and now we only had to find a place that could fulfill our dream wedding. We went to a couple of wedding shows in Toronto and we stumbled upon a destination wedding travel company called, Weddings by Oceans.

We spoke to the some of the representatives and then to Megan, the owner of the company. She suggested that we attend a luncheon [editor's note: our annual Destination Wedding Event. Save the date - this year it's being held on November 5th at Marlow in Richmond Hill!] that they hold for all the new bride and groom couples. Megan mentioned that this luncheon was designed by Weddings by Oceans to help couples decide on a destination where they’d be married.

It brought in representatives from all the major resorts that specialize in weddings so they could talk firsthand about the facilities and packages. We attended the luncheon and it was probably the best thing for couples looking to book a destination, but don’t know exactly where. All the staff from Weddings by Oceans were very professional and courteous as were all the reps from the different hotels and resorts.

My fiancée and I decided on the Majestic Colonial in Punta Cana. We were very impressed by the resort and its facilities, not to mention that they were the #1 destination in Punta Cana for weddings.

We booked through Megan and her crew at Weddings by Oceans for 50 people initially, but as we found out over the course of planning the wedding it was a more realistic 28 people who were actually going. At one point it actually got down to 12 people, but things worked out.

Destination wedding planning…

The booking process was super simple…we called Ashley our rep at Weddings by Oceans and we asked her when the right time to book was. Since we were about 2 yrs out from the actual wedding date she mentioned that it would be a little early to get accurate pricing, because the hotels don’t put their pricing for about a year before the actual date.

She was very gracious and promised to keep an eye for other hotels and destination that would fit our budget for ourselves and our guests. Over the course of the year, I touched base with Ashley and the crew at Weddings by Oceans and they gave me options and choices on possible other resorts that might fit our group.

In April of 2010, after reading and researching reviews on different hotels on Tripadvisor and other sites, we kept our decision on going to the Majestic Colonial Punta Cana. We got pricing for our group and it was a little more than we hoped (not much more), but in retrospect it was well worth it.

After the initial deposits for our group, Megan suggested that we start a website or send an email to all the guests that were going to inform them of the important dates (for the bookings and payments) also to get them excited in going by giving them information about the Majestic Colonial and the Dominican Republic. She also took us through everything that we needed to book for the hotel (wedding location, photographers, DJ services, reception).

We also booked a photographer that Megan knew who was always at the resort. His name was Phil Steingard and if you take a look at his work on his website, you will want to book him as well. Another one of Megan’s suggestions was to book DJ Mannia in Punta Cana, also another excellent choice!

Over the next couple of months, the staff at Weddings by Oceans were very communicative and very understanding to the “stress and demands” of our wedding party. We even had a last minute booking from one of my family members in the USA that was flying in 2 days later than when we got in, and the Weddings by Oceans staff made sure that when he landed he was placed with our group in the proper area of the hotel!

About  2 months before the trip, we had booked:

• our beach-side gazebo wedding (done through Megan)
• we had confirmed our reception location (done by emailing your wedding coordinator at the Majestic Colonial)
• our DJ (done by contacting DJ Mannia through his website)
• our photographer (done by suggestion from Megan and contacting him through his website)
• and finally, booked our Pastor (referred to us by Megan, because we wanted a symbolic ceremony in the DR but we also wanted a little religious touch because my family is catholic).

We picked our tickets up and were very excited to get married at the Majestic Colonial. We flew out of Toronto Pearson International airport and finally landed in Punta Cana!

The wedding week…

If you have never been to Punta Cana or the Dominican Republic…make it one of the those places in your bucket list of places to go. I have personally been there about 5 times; the people, the beaches, and the country…amazing! We arrived in Punta Cana on April 17th and we had a private coach just for our group, all arranged by our Sunwing rep, Andre, who we met at the airport.

It was a short 20 min coach ride from the airport to the front lobby of the Majestic Colonial. Our group of 28 people were checked in through a separate group check in; we were also greeted with a welcome cocktail of frozen fruity goodness!!

Our group was put together in the hotel block closest to the beach and right beside the pool bar and beach-side buffet area (or more commonly referred to as the “Wet Bar”). Me and my fiancée received a room upgrade so that we were on the ground floor oceanfront room. It provided an amazing view of the beach and it was literally 50 feet to the beach-side wedding area.

Since we’ve traveled quite a bit in a lot of 3 star and 4 star hotels in the Caribbean, we always check the beds, the shower and rinse the cups. My fiancée and I are very particular about these little things, just because of some past experiences. To our relief, everything was exactly as it should be in a resort of this caliber.

I had read some past travelers’ experiences about some of these issues and we were a little concerned because we had travelers in our party that had never been out of the country, but we had nothing but praise for the size of the rooms and the amenities that it offered. By the way…the shower stall is absolutely huge! (I’ll refer to it later in the review.)

Our wedding party settled in and we all headed to the pool and then dinner together later that evening. When we all met for dinner, we had all decided to meet at the grand buffet dining area. They had no problem seating 28 people for dinner at 1 table! And it was by far the biggest buffet I had eaten in the Caribbean.

I was a little worried because my sister had brought down my 2 nieces (1 yr old and 2 yr old) and I was concerned that the food would be too much of a shock to their systems, but again I was pleasantly surprised that NO ONE had any issues with food the WHOLE week!!! I know that some people have tender stomachs, but if my 2 little nieces can eat all week and not have a problem then maybe it’s not the food.

We had told our guests that they were free the rest of the week to enjoy themselves and just to be at the beach at 3pm on Thursday. We all met up at different times during the week either at the wet bar, a la cartes, the lower lobby bar, pool etc… From all the reaction of our wedding party…everyone loved the Majestic.

Me and my fiancée met up with Stephanie (our wedding coordinator) on the Tuesday of that week to discuss the details of the wedding and what we had to expect and do. I must admit…she took care of everything…all we told her was who our photographer was (Phil Steingard… he is from Ontario and he is there about 6-8 months of the year taking photos at the Majestic Colonial/Elegance and other resorts) and also mentioned that we booked DJ Mannia and Pastor York (he is an english pastor that does weddings in the Punta Cana area).

All we had to do was pick the cake flavor, give her our decorations that we had brought down, confirm the numbers for the wedding reception at the Steakhouse, drop off our wedding attire, and give her our entrance music (either on CD or you can bring down an ipod the day of). She told us where everyone should be on the wedding day as well.

Stephanie also arranged a couples massage for me and my soon-to-be wife and a romantic beach-side dinner as well. After our meeting with Stephanie, we had also met with Phil Steingard to discuss where everyone would be on the wedding day and how long it would take. Just to let you know…since Phil has been down at the Majestic so many times he is almost like a second wedding coordinator, he knows where to go, what to do, where everyone should be, etc… So if you book with him your in good hands.

The week went off without a hitch and we planned and went on a lot of excursions with our guests. Our Sunwing rep, Andre, was also great!

The wedding day…

The wedding day came around and our wedding attire arrived and it was pressed and steamed. The groomsmen all were in one room and my bride was in our room by the beach. Phil arrived, took us through the day and we took some awesome shots.

The wedding went off without a hitch, the weather, the scenery; the atmosphere was everything I could ask for. Phil took some awesome shots at the wedding, after the wedding and during the reception.

After the wedding we all met up around 7pm at the beach-side Steakhouse and had an awesome reception. The food was amazing and the lobster and steak were very tasty.
We all made our way to the Wet bar area which is literally behind the Steakhouse. Our guests arrived at the wet bar area and it was fully decorated with all our decorations and our bar was stocked with booze that we bought in duty free (Grey Goose was a little harder to find in Punta Cana from what I heard) everyone grabbed some drinks and waited for our entrance in which DJ Mania brought us in with a little Black eyed Peas “I’ve got a feeling”.

The night went awesome! Lots of dancing and drinking…we even a “Boat race” between the Bridal Party…pretty crazy! Finally we all jumped in the pool beside the bar to end the night.

The next morning we had a photo shoot with Phil Steingard to do the “Trash the Dress” session, the pictures that we got were some of the most amazing I have seen. We were on the beach, in the sand, the jungle… By the end of the day we were exhausted and our clothes were full of sand.

Remember the shower stall that I mentioned earlier? My wife and took off her dress in the shower and rinsed the dress out with both of us in it and there was still room!

In conclusion…

The rest of the week was just amazing! We ate at all the a la cartes (teppanyaki was the tastiest) and we drank lots. After a great week, we all headed back to Toronto with some great memories and some new friends! The Majestic staff was the friendliest I had ever experienced in the Caribbean.

Big Poppy at the upper lobby bar and Claudio from the animation team were a big hit with ladies! The boys at the pool and wet bar were also great. My parents who had never traveled to the south and who were very reluctant on going had definitely changed their mind after going to the Majestic. My mother now wants to do our family reunions there!

To top it all off…we received a little gift of a 3 or 4 night stay at the Majestic on our anniversary! All I know is that the experience that I was hoping for was fulfilled by all the hard work of the staff at Weddings by Oceans, the staff at the Majestic Colonial, Phil Steingard, Pastor York, Dj Mannia, our bridal party and our families.  If you have any concerns about your wedding at the Majestic…don’t be…because I’ve been there and it was more than perfect.

Wow, what a wonderful testimonial, Ryan and Chantelle, thank you for this and for sharing your pictures with us. Congratulations on your dream destination wedding! We’re so very happy that everything turned out better than you had imagined.

If you’re inspired by Ryan and Chantelle’s destination wedding story and would like some more information on hosting your wedding at Majestic Colonial in Punta Cana, contact us and speak to one of our Cyber Maids of Honour.