Francis & Brian
Catholic wedding at Barcelo Palace / Francis & Brian
“We met through an online app called Bumble. We both swiped right and connected. In this app the woman is the one who has to message first in order to start the conversations. I wrote to him “Hey there” not knowing how to start a conversation lol. He replied “Hola! How are you?”, and we started chatting! I ended up asking for his number first because I kept on getting the notifications late on the app 
ha! We met in person and 3 years later we are happily married with our beauty family! “ – Francis.
G: How was the proposal?
F: “Brian proposed at the California Grill balcony across from Cinderella’s castle under the fireworks! It was beautiful! We wanted to enjoy our engagement but not make it too long. After talking it over we decided on a date that meant something to us”
G: Why did you choose to having a destination wedding?
F: ”We love to travel and on a trip we made to Barcelo (Brian is Colombian and this was his first trip to the Dominican Republic), we enjoyed how the resort had a little bit of everything for everyone and it’d be nice to have everyone together. That’s when we decided to have a destination wedding”
G: How was your wedding planning here?
F: “We initially had a different venue that would have our guest moving out of the hotel, however once we discovered the chapel at Barcelo, we changed it. It was the perfect location for us because it has a beautiful chapel and we were looking to have a catholic ceremony.
Our planning was very smooth considering we were doing all the planning from Orlando. We also hired our wedding coordinator, Estephany from EJ Wedding and Events, who did all the site inspections and footwork for us. They were truly amazing and made this process so smooth for us.
After doing our research, we first booked our photographer GGG. I got in contact with a bride who had used them before and couldn’t say anything but amazing things about them! Although there is a vendor fee because we didn’t use the hotel photographer, we thought I’d be best and boy were we right!! Our videos and pictures are beautiful! I go through almost everyday”
G: How was your experience with the resort?
F: “We were also working with Nicole, who is the hotels wedding department manager. She was amazing and helped us so much to bring our vision to life. She made changes were she needed to and went above and beyond to accommodate us! She was truly amazing!
My hair and make up along with my bridal party and mother were done at the hotel spa by Xiomara. We had no complaints there! It was perfect! Xiomara went above and beyond with me and even retouched my hair and makeup before the reception!”
Final thoughts: “The vendors for decorations, food, entertainment, cake and everything were through the hotel. Everything was beautiful, the cake was delicious and the most important thing for us, which we informed our wedding coordinator was that our guest would have a fun weekend, and boy did they! They had such a great time. They want us to renew our vows every year so they can do it all over again!
