Destination Wedding in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

You’ve all heard me talk about Tom in my prior blog posts, and with Valentine’s Day just around the corner I think of the moments of how we met and fell madly in love.  Tom and I got married and had a small ceremony in front of close friends and family barefoot on the white sandy beach of Hard Rock Resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

In the first year of dating, Tom and I did our first beach vacation together in the Dominican Republic, so it felt special to us. When looking for a photographer, a close friend recommended Dylan Photography to us.  We really liked him and immediately brought him on board to join us on the beach.  Since we had him the whole week, we ended up doing some pre-wedding shoots and a post-wedding shoot, which l’ll share in another post. Tom and I ended up with so many photos that we actually didn’t have time to sort through them. So, surprise! This is the first time any are being published.

Halfway into the month most celebrated for love, I thought it would be a very fitting to share a few pictures from the week of our wedding, especially since it fits into “Travel Thursdays” on my blog.

Tom and I selected all-white matching suit and dress. We’re not the biggest fan of khaki-colors on his skin-tone and just really fell in love with the idea of a beautiful, clean white suit – albeit, not for everyone, but perfect for us. Tom’s a big guy, about 6’3″ & has the build of an average line-backer, so he doesn’t really fit anything in stores. Pretty ridiculous, right?  We made an appointment to get a crisp custom made suit and shirt in Toronto at Surmesur. They took care of any final alterations & we were good to go! Luckily for us, it was a smooth process. The dress hunt was a lot crazier and at times nerve-wracking.

The beach ceremony was on the hottest day of the month.  There was a light breeze and the the water and sky were so blue.  I really wanted to have my hair down, but was told that it’d be better up since it was windy.After the beach ceremony, we performed a Traditional Chinese Tea Ceremony for our families in the hotel room.  Instead of the traditional Chinese dress, I went ahead with a long red gown.  I had seen this Elie Saab dress that I absolutely loved in a different color and went to get this custom made in red for the occasion. Afterwards, we had a simple banquet outdoors in a beautiful gazebo.Since everyone was going back to the hotel rooms covered with sand stuck to their hands and feet, Tom and I made these cute little scented coconut oil sugar scrubs to give as wedding gifts.

THE RESORT

The Hard Rock Hotel in Punta Cana was a great choice for us because it had 9 restaurants, a beautiful rock spa, on-resort and off-resort activities, casino, excursions, horseback riding, golfing and mini-golf for families.  Every hotel room had a modern and sleek design and included power-jet hot tub.The resort has an amazing 48,000 sq. foot Rock Spa with hydrotherapy pools, resting stations and tons of massage beds.  Tom and I did a couples massage the day after the wedding and squeezed in about 30 mins of the water therapy.  We wanted to take advantage of the sun, but I wish we had an extra day here, so that we could enjoy the water therapies for more than few minutes, but I mean, how could you turn this view down though?For a 5-star resort, I was disappointed with the hotel staff and service overall.  We had a few bad experiences with check-in, security, front desk and food was disappointing at 2 of the 9 restaurants, but the wedding planning team was professional, on top of absolutely everything and were the very best to work with.  When we found the good restaurants, the experience was so much better.Credit for resort photos: Hard Rock Hotel Punta Cana

FOOD

You all know I love food. Here are our favorites on the resort:

Favorite Outdoor Dinner: Ipanema Brazilian Steakhouse had the best service we’d ever received on a resort.  The restaurant is in a very large gazebo with an open space concept facing the pool and beach.  For those who don’t eat meat, they have a salad bar and some fish options.

Favorite Brunch: Isla.  Just off of the beach of the resort, this restaurant had waffles, pancakes, omelettes made to your liking, freshly made juices and custom smoothies, fruit, cakes, baked goods, coffee and pretty much everything we wanted for brunch.  While you’re dining, you can stare at the beach and blue water.  It was the perfect way to start the day.

Tom and I went off resort a couple of times for excursions, but the resort is so big, you can either coordinate to meet with friends and family, or have some privacy if you really wanted it.  They also have large golf carts on resort that pick you up and drop you off at different stops so you don’t always need to walk from place to place.

We had a really special week with our loved ones. .

Since then, Tom and I have really experienced life travelling about 2.5 months and relocating to a new city. You get one life to live, so love, laugh and be adventurous. Have no regrets!  Please comment below if you enjoyed this post.  What would your dream wedding be?  If you have already married, did you do a destination wedding?  I always enjoy reading the comments.

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Xo,

Miki

*I did not to put pictures up of friends & family… just incase.*