in case you’re just starting to read my blogs and didn’t follow my previous site, let me briefly fill you in. my hubby and i got married three times this year. in july, we had an intimate (and legal) wedding ceremony in nantucket. in september, we traveled to punta cana in the dominican republic with 35 of our closest family and friends for our destination wedding.. we wore fancy clothes, exchanged vows, danced to our first dance, ate wedding cake.. this is our official anniversary. then, later in september, we hosted a big “happily ever after party” to informally celebrate our marriage with the rest of our family and friends who were unable to attend our destination wedding.
all three events were so special in their own way (find the details of our nantucket & punta cana weddings here on my old blog). but i inconveniently decided to move my blog in between sharing my 2837 wedding posts, so i’m picking up where i left off.. and today i’m sharing some details from the rest of our vacation. here goes!
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each night in punta cana was so memorable.. these were the times when everyone came together after a relaxing day at the pool or spa to eat yummy food, watch a show and laugh!
the resort had 8 (i think) restaurants and each with different types of food.. so we tried a new one each night and were almost never disappointed. it worked out well that some family/friends came early and left early and other came later and left later.. this way our group was slightly smaller (nothing like trying to get a table for 30 people) and ben and i were able to visit with everyone.
my brothers arrived on monday and we showed up tuesday.. so they knew the layout of the resort and my little brother was having a grand time with the all inclusive alcohol.. he just couldn’t hang with all us older folks! he also didn’t realize that he wore this shirt on a tuesday.. 
the second night we headed to an asian inspired restaurant and all made sure to order multiple dinners (which became a regular thing each night)! 
the night before our wedding, we planned an informal get-together so all our guests could get to know each other and hang out. it was so much fun! we learned to dance salsa, laughed a lot and drank too many shots of mamajuana! 
“as we grow up, we realize it becomes less important to have a ton of friends and more important to have real ones.”
these three ladies are the best friends a girl could ever have and this quote is so true in my life. i have one true friend from each phase of my life. sarah is from high school, breanna from college and kate from graduate school!
our wedding night was amazing (read about it here).. after the reception was over, we headed back to our room so i could change and this was on our bed! then we all met back out and danced for a little before calling it a night! 
saturday night we got dinner with my dad, grandma, ben’s parents and a few friends..
we celebrated my SILs 30th birthday by trying escargot, eating cake, smoking vanilla cigars and drinking “fancy” wine (that we had to buy at our all inclusive resort.. fyi – if you prefer to drink wine, caribbean all inclusive resorts are probably not your best bet.. they serve one type of red wine and one type of white.. neither were good!)
and our last night.. at our favorite italian restaurant (with the best chicken parm). 
the most amazing trip with our favorite people ❤
Love, Jessica 
Awesome pictures great story.
Happy to be a part of your special day.
Love you
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Hi!! I came across your instagram and blog and loved it! i enjoyed seeing all the pictures you posted! I am getting married June 29th 2019 and was wondering if you could give me any tips, advice, concerns you had having your wedding at the Dreams resort! that is where i am doing mine also!
Thanks!!
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Hey!! Thanks so much for visiting! Our wedding at dreams was more than we could have imagined! Our wedding planner was so great about replying and answering questions and then so organized when we arrived. We did our ceremony on the beach which was beautiful (highly recommend over the gazebo) and pictures were absolutely stunning. Our photographer was through the resort and I’ve gotten so many compliments on my pictures.. they looked fake and the background was 100% reality. We had about 35 people which was the perfect amount for a reception on the beach (also highly recommend).. it was a dream come true. I can’t speak highly enough about it! Also, bc you are getting married there, you will be upgraded to the premium club which has a great lounge and drinks.. definitely take advantage!
If you have any other specific questions please reach out! Best of luck 💕
– Jessica
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Thank you so much for responding!!! for the photography which package did you chose through the hotel!?
I am having about 50 people! and having the ceremony under the gazebo! I am excited!
I wanted to ask what did you pick for your dinner menu at the reception, there are so many options and there different/unique options, i wasn’t sure what to pick!
Sorry so many questions, lol what room type did you stay in?! I booked for the honey moon suite so i was just wondering how you liked the rooms!!
Thank you again 🙂
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No problem! 50 people is perfect and the gazebo is also beautiful (I’m just biased because we did ours on the beach). We brought a huge list of songs we liked and gave to our DJ because we weren’t sure about the music they’d play without direction.. he followed our list and did great.
We chose canapes and taquitos (can’t remember what else) but they were all good! Dinner was steak with shrimp (just one option). One thing we really liked about this resort was that all the food was great, especially for an all inclusive resort.
We initially had booked the honeymoon suite which is a big room but we wanted to be closer to the beach and right at the pool.. so last minute we changed to a swim out room.. the rooms was on the smaller side but clean, bed was comfy and we were hardly in the room anyways! Some of our guests got the suites and really didn’t use all the space or amenities.
And make sure you take advantage of the spa (couples massage is a must) and water therapy area! So relaxing!
❤ Jessica
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