Finest Punta Cana

We got married here April 2024. Prior to deciding on this resort for our wedding, we visited in April 2023 for a site inspection. We were thrilled with the state of the art facilities and amenities. The food was amazing and the staff/customer service was out of this world. I grew up going to Punta Cana and have visited many resorts, but nothing like this. We had 100 guests and we received 0 complaints from my guests regarding the resort and that says a lot. When researching resorts, prices and quality, we wanted the best and we experienced that. I would 10/10 recommend this resort.

FPC Review:
Buckle up queens, this is going to be lengthy! Here is my review of our wedding at the Finest Punta Cana on April 19th, 2026.

Dates at Hotel: 4/15-4/22
Wedding Coordinator: Natalia….then Yessica
Total People: 62 (55 Adults, 3 Infants, 4 Kids)
Concession Tiers: 1, 2, and 3
Package: Everlasting Memories
Welcome Party Location: The Lobby Terrace
Rehearsal Dinner Location: Grand Gazebo
Ceremony/Cocktail Hour Location: Tropical Gazebo
Reception Location: Tropical Gazebo

A little about me: I was a very lowkey bride, although Type A in my normal life, I had never put a ton of thought into my wedding which was part of the appeal of a destination wedding. I had my first child in August and knew I would be traveling to another country, 8 months PP, with a baby and that the priority of the wedding was having all of our friends and family together for 3-4 days. I wasn’t super worried about having a Pintrest/Instagram Wedding and was very laid back in the planning process. My major priorities were: creating a seamless way to ensure everyone could book their rooms, having as many guests as possible be able to attend all of our wedding events, and helping family members who might not be able to afford the trip with rooms if possible (with concessions). The other details were not a huge stresser for me. I would say that if they are - you might want to hire an external wedding planner/coordinator because communication will be slow and you will have to advocate for yourself often. I would also add that if you are someone that needs to have everything exactly perfect or control absolutely every aspect of your wedding - doing a destination wedding in the Caribbean might not be for you.

Wedding Preparations:
At the recommendation of this group, I reached out to Liz Moore Weddings (https://www.lizmooredestinationweddings.com/) and worked with Travel Coordinator: Delia Cruz (I have linked her info below). Delia worked basically as a liaison between myself and the hotel. She was extremely knowledgeable and well versed in the workings of the Finest Punta Cana and was able to guide me through this entire process. I honestly can’t imagine trying to organize everything just with the hotel alone given that communication with them can be very slow. Delia provided me with all of the contracts, booking promo codes and even a sample Wedding Website through “The Knot”. I had already begun building one with Zola but the information was super useful! Working with Delia is free of charge as I believe she is paid by the hotel - don’t quote me on that. I highly recommend her or any other travel agent/coordinator familiar with the Finest/Excellence collection and booking destination weddings as a whole.

Delia was ESPECIALLY helpful when my promo code stopped working a couple of times. Around Christmas and again at the end of January a couple of my guests reached out to me to let me know that they were trying to book rooms and that the promo code was “invalid”. I reached out to Delia and she had it fixed within 24 hours!

As you may or may not be aware, the promo code allows your guests to book their room for your wedding with only a $1 deposit. Their room is then charged 30-45 days prior to their arrival. Delia advised that calling the hotel and having them “charge” all of the rooms while you are on the phone with them is WISE for a couple of reasons:
Many times people book their rooms well in advance using credit cards that may no longer be in service or expired.
If these cards are not active or cards are declined, the resort will only hold room reservations for 48 hours. Automated messages are sent to these guests however, Delia advised that many times the emails get sent to spam and guests are not alerted that their payment was received until they receive an email informing them that their room was canceled, at this point, your promo code has expired and it’s too late for them to rebook with the discount.
I called 35 days prior to our wedding and had them run everyone’s credit card while they were on the phone with me (this took 5 minutes), the service team member then was able to tell me that 5 of my guests’ cards had been declined. We were then able to reach out to those guests and let them know they needed to go in and change their billing information within the next 48 hours.

My coordinator that was assigned to me was Natalia throughout the entire process. Delia connected her with me around the time that we signed our contract (about a year prior to the wedding). Natalia sent along many materials for me to look through, all of which can be found on this Facebook Page as well, but was pretty clear that actual planning wouldn’t take place until about 3 months before. Natalia reached out to me to inform me that the wedding planning process was officially beginning on January 9th (our wedding was April 19th). We had a phone call and then from there our communication was done via email. Communication is slow! Typically you should plan on 3-5 business days for a response. Having lived in Hawaii for 5 years in my twenties, I am well versed in this idea of “island time” so if you go into your planning process with that mentality, you will definitely be less frustrated with the slow response time. My suggestion: make a list of questions/topics you want to address and email them clearly all at once so that the “back and forth” isn’t quite as necessary.

WARNING: I had a couple of instances where Natalia informed me that the resort had changed the time or location of one of my wedding events due to “resort policies”. For example, my rehearsal dinner was rescheduled to 2 days prior to my wedding when 90% of the wedding party wasn’t scheduled to arrive until that evening. Although I am NOT at all an assertive person, I put on my “big girl pants” and pushed back requesting specific times and locations. Natalia was able to make it work. This happened again 2 weeks before the wedding where Natalia reached out informing me that they had rescheduled our “3 Hour Beach Party” Concession the day after the wedding from noon to 3pm due to “new resort policies”. I had already sent out an itinerary to my guests and 3pm is smack dab in the middle of my 8 month old’s nap time. I pushed back politely and explained that I had already sent out an itinerary to my guests and it would be a lot of work to contact everyone now. Natalia was able to accommodate my request and the beach part remained at noon.

I honestly think they schedule events without your permission in a way that is the most beneficial for the hotel and then hope you’re okay with it. You can absolutely voice when times & locations do not work for you and they will likely try to accommodate your requests. It's a shame that they don’t ask you for your preferences beforehand because it does cause unnecessary stress and communication. Receiving an email informing you that your Rehearsal Dinner and Welcome Party is going to be held 2 days before the wedding instead of the night before as is customary is alarming but Natalia was super understanding and fixed it!

As far as decorations went, I decided that I was going to focus on florals from Vlady, but not over the top, and then bring a few decorations of my own but not stress too much about it. I packed a duffle bag of handmade/DIY table numbers, small signs, place cards, artificial palm leaves, pink paper placemats, sunglasses (wedding favors) and “his/her candy” for our guests and called it a day! I think I spent maybe $350 on additional decor + a set up fee paid to the hotel of $300 (they will want this in CASH). We also rented 2 rectangular tables (1 for the head table and one for our guest book and the champagne/place cards) and 2 white table clothes for $87.

Travel:
Airport: The airport upon arrival was CHAOTIC! We tried to do the VIP Arrival at PUJ but it was all booked up. The airport is currently undergoing some construction and the day we arrived 2 of the 3 terminals were closed. It took us about an hour to get our bags and then another 30 minutes to exit the airport due to the lines! Everyone was super nice and helpful though when they saw we had a baby and we just smiled through it!

Airport VIP Services: Given this experience we were able to get the VIP Comfort Package for our return.
Departure Package (we opted for the cheapest option) “VIP Comfort” Included:
Fast Track through security & immigration
REVIEW: The cost is $30 per person and did alleviate a lot of stress for us but I don’t think I would have done it if we hadn’t had an 8 month old. The private area was really nice and calming for us and they allowed us to move at our own pace through security which was helpful!

Seasons Transport Service:
Communication: Communication is slow and they typically don’t reach out confirming until about a week before your arrival! Both of our drivers to and from the airport were super personable and helpful! The drive is about 45-50 minutes - just a heads up!

Resort/Accomodations:
Room Type: Finest Club Beachfront Suite with Private Pool
Room: The room was awesome! Super spacious with the perfect area to set up our 8 month old’s slumber pod. We were able to easily hang out on the deck, in the private pool, or in the living room while she napped. The location was also amazing - so close to the main pool & beach! The only “con” about the room or all the rooms in general is the marble floors. They are incredibly slippery when they get wet and with our 8 month newly crawling, I was very nervous about her bumping her head! I constructed a small little play pen with blankets and pillows which worked out perfectly! We were super happy with the amount of storage in the room - the closet was large and spacious and the cabinets were also great for storing clothing and other items! Upon our arrival we received a 24 pack of bottled water, a bottle warmer, a bottle sterilizer, an electric kettle, a baby tub, a high chair, and a pack and play. We brought a travel mattress & slumber pod and she slept great!
Food: The food was fair! There were a few great places, lots of “mid” places and a few duds but we weren’t there for 5 Star Dining! A couple suggestions based off our experience and our guests’ experiences:
If you have A LOT of people coming to the wedding, I would suggest picking a time every morning that you are going to be at the buffet and just “posting up” outside on the lanai. The buffet is HUGE, there is something for everyone and the staff there is amazing. We told all of our guests that from Friday-Monday we would be on the lanai at the buffet every morning from about 8-9. People stopped by to see us if they wanted to - it worked out amazing.
If you are “club level” (Excellence or Finest), GUSTO is awesome for dinner and breakfast. We went for breakfast once the majority of our guests left on Tuesday and Wednesday for breakfast - it was great! Dinner was also awesome there!
Lizo was great as well! I loved the fajitas!
We had friends who loved both Shoji and Dommo and we heard great things about the Melting Pot as well!
We didn’t love Las Dunas during lunch time or Brass. The Italian place Insieme was okay but not amazing!
For lunch we stuck to the food truck by the pool - pretty much everything was a hit (especially the burgers!) and then for a snack in the afternoon the smoothie place (Juice Bar) was AWESOME!
We also frequented the coffee/sweet shop multiple times a day.
The food (buffets) for the private events was definitely a hit with our guests (more below)
Spa: We had a couples massage and hydrotherapy session that came with our wedding package and I REALLY enjoyed both experiences. The spa is definitely top notch. We had multiple people mention having really positive experiences there. It was SO relaxing!

Concessions:
Tier 1:
1) One-Hour rehearsal cocktail party with open bar and hors d'oeuvres
*Used as a welcome party (more details below)
2) Complimentary room for 3 nights for the couple (Finest Club Suite with Private Pool)
*Used as a “getting ready room” for the groom but we also had a friend stay there for 3 nights. HOWEVER, my fiance had to be there when the friend checked in because it was “technically” his room + a guest.
*Please note that they will no longer allow you to use the complimentary 3 or 4 night stay for the couple on family members unless it is booked under either the bride or groom’s name and then the second guest is your family member. THIS WAS A HUGE BUMMER! Our room didn’t qualify as a free room and we had hoped to easily give this room to someone. While we were able to use it, it was a hassle and frustrating that we had to do this in such a roundabout way when it used to be allowed.

Tier 2:
1) Rehearsal Private Dinner for 40 Guests (2 Hours)
*See details below
2) Complimentary room for 4 nights for the couple (Finest Club Suite with Private Pool)
*Used as a getting ready room for myself & my bridesmaids! My fiance’s mom was supposed to also stay in this room but she couldn’t attend the wedding last minute.


Tier 3:
1) Rehearsal Beach Party (up to three hours) for up to 40 guests
(we actually ended up cancelling this - we were EXHAUSTED and just wanted to relax)
2) Complimentary room for 5 nights for a friend or family member (room info below)
*Gifted to my parents as they helped us pay for a portion of the wedding!

Pre-Wedding Meetings:
Wedding Coordinator (Yessica): We went to meet with Natalia on Thursday morning at 10am only to find out that she was out on maternity leave! We instead met with Yessica who was fabulous! I brought all my decorations and went over all of the details! Like I said, I was a very low key bride so the meeting took about 30 minutes. Brides: bring your credit card to this meeting so that you don’t have to go back to pay (learn from my mistakes).
In House Photographer (Seasons): We had a brief meeting where we went over the time line. We upgraded to quite a large photo package so we had 8 hours of coverage.

Rehearsal: We didn’t have a rehearsal - the times proposed by the hotel didn’t really work for us and I didn’t really care about the rehearsal.

HERE IS SOMETHING I WISH I KNEW BUT DIDN’T: Before every event at the hotel they will email you or call you around like 10am and tell you that there might be like a 30% chance of rain (even if there is nothing on the radar) and “advise you” to move your events inside. You will then have to go to the office and sign a document stating that you either want to change your venues to inside or understand that if it rains AT ALL during set up or the event itself they will cancel it. This was a little scary. The morning of the Welcome Party and Rehearsal Dinner I got an email and a phone call stating that due to the 35% chance of rain, they advised that I move both events indoors. They were offering the ballroom and inside lobby. Both seemed depressing and I would have been so sad if we moved everything inside and then the weather was beautiful (which it was). So I signed the contract stating that even if it sprinkled I understood that they would cancel our events. I was willing to take a gamble! Our back up plan if they cancelled our events was to go to the big circle bar in the lobby for the Welcome Drinks and go to the Food Truck & Picnic Tables for our rehearsal dinner.

The same thing happened on the day of our wedding. I had to sign a contract at 11am stating that even though there was a 0% chance of rain during the wedding, if it rained, during set up or the event, they would cancel it. TERRIFYING. Everything was fine though.

Welcome Party:
Outside on the lobby terrace! It was beautiful! Exactly an hour! Passed appetizers. I honestly don’t remember what we had. Everything was pretty good! It was a blur honestly!

Rehearsal Dinner:
At the Grand Gazebo - so glad we took a chance and had it here! This was perfection. The tables were in the sand as was the buffet! The bar was in the actual gazebo. We took off our shoes and just had ourselves a time! The International Buffet was awesome and the pictures we got during this event were INSANE! The scenario looked fake. This was such a memorable moment!

Wedding Morning/Getting Ready:
* I did my own makeup and my best friend/MOH did my hair to avoid vendor fees.
* Nobody chose to get their hair and makeup done at the hotel as we had heard mixed reviews so we just kind of all helped each other. I did makeup as a side-hustle in my twenties and my best friend is amazing at hair so we were able to handle the “glam”.
*My mom flew with a duffle bag of gifts/items for my bridesmaids and for the groomsmen as well as my wedding dress, my daughter’s flower girl dress, and my rehearsal dress!
*One of my aunts brought us burgers and fries from the food truck and they also brought snacks to our room!
*It was a bit of a long walk to the Tropical Gazebo - I would love for them to invest in some golf carts but hey, we got our steps in!

Ceremony:
It was perfect! We originally were going to have a friend marry us but plans changed last minute and we had the in-house officiant do it! It was great - short & sweet! We wrote our own vows which was much more the highlight of the ceremony rather than the officiant! The music was perfect. We had one song that needed to be played at like 1 minute and 30 seconds which was executed perfectly. IT WAS WINDY - prepare my queens! Lots of hairspray & humidity spray! We had a sign that was made by Vlady and all of the florals on the gazebo and aisle (more below). I did let Vlady and her team know ahead of time that we planned on taking pictures under the gazebo for about 15 minutes after the ceremony and they really appreciated the heads up! We provided sunglasses for our guests as a little gift which was a fun touch! The team from the hotel set those up beautifully and then moved it into the reception after the ceremony.

Cocktail Hour:
If you are getting married on the tropical deck, the cocktail hour is a little anti-climatic because it’s in the same location, directly next to the ceremony. Most people hung out by the bar (which was between Dukes & Las Dunas) and took pictures on the beautiful deck. I believe appetizers were passed around but we were taking photos! Our guests slowly trickled into the reception area which we were totally fine with! We didn’t have any complaints about this but it definitely wasn’t anything super special!

Reception:
We had multiple people at our wedding who had weddings that cost well over $200,000 that commented that this was one of their FAVORITE weddings they had ever been to including their own. The MC checked in ahead of time (during the cocktail hour once we were done with our photos) to make sure he had everyone’s name correctly and the order in which our wedding party was going to enter. The DJ played all of our songs that we requested and took occasional requests from our guests after confirming with us that it was okay! For the buffet we did the caribbean buffet which received rave reviews! The 3-tiered cake was basic but delicious. We decorated it with flowers from Vlady and a little Golden Retriever figurine. The staff was all super kind and attentive. Honestly, it was perfect! It was exactly what we wanted.

Vendors:
Vlady’s Floral: We spent about $3500 extra on florals which I do not regret at all! We ordered 8 bridesmaid bouquets, 5 for my bridesmaids which were then put into vases on the tables + 3 extras, a bouquet for myself, 2 flower crowns for the flower girls, a wedding sign with flowers, 9 boutonnieres, flowers for the aisle and gazebo and flowers for the cake. We paid $150 extra to have everything moved from the ceremony to reception. The flowers from the gazebo were re-configured to be placed at the base of our head table. Everything was BEAUTIFUL! Our florals were delivered on time and everyone was so kind. I couldn’t have been happier.

In House DJ & MC: They did such a great job! No notes! Kept the party going all night. The MC is a must - he was awesome!

In-House Photographer & Videographer: We upgraded to quite a large package that included the following and therefore haven’t received any of our photos yet but everyone was kind, professional and they worked quickly and efficiently!
2 Photographers (we seemed to have more than that at one point? I think I counted 4 for portions of the night)
1 Videographer (we seemed to have 2 for most of the night?)
8 Hours of Photo Coverage
8 Hours of Video Coverage
300 Edited Images
ALL Original Images
Online Gallery
Copyright (All Photos)
Feature Film
Highlight Reel
Large Wedding Album 60 Photos
2 Small Wedding Albums 30 Photos

In summary, this was the BEST week ever! We would absolutely recommend this experience to anyone looking for a laid back, family centered, and memorable wedding!

I will post photos when I get them back from Seasons! Please let me know if you have any questions :)

The resort itself beautiful, the honeymoon suite expensive but beautiful, the resort staff wonderful and friendly but hosting a wedding there? I'm not so sure! If you want your wedding to feel cookie- cutter where you're "just the next couple waiting in line to get married" then you've found the right place! Up to 4 weddings can take place the same day and when you try to choose your location like near the beach and on the sand like you would ultimately be dreaming of when you pick a resort by the beach they can change it depending on if there is a bigger group coming that day ( and probably if that bigger group is spending more money). Our coordinator Marlyn was very sweet as a person and very easy to get a long with, she was super helpful and creative at setting out the decor, it looked amazing. BUT!!!! she forgot to charge us for certain things like our photographer entrance fee meaning he wasn't allowed to enter the resort until we paid which we didn't realize this price was left off of the planner until we were in the middle of getting our hair and make up done and there was a major issue getting our photographer and videographer in. We had paid for our photographer to come early to take pictures while we were getting ready but Finest Punta Cana held him at the front gate for an hour and wouldn't let him and the videographer in until they collected $1,200 from us. I was in my robe with no card or money getting ready with my mom, mother in law and bridesmaids so I had no idea this was all going on until the photo company called me to say that they weren't allowing him in!!!! I looked for the wedding coordinator and asked for the wedding manager and could not locate them for help. So we missed an hour of photography that we will never get back. They did finally let them in the gates an hour late and said we could pay up later well later to them meant " we'll hound the groom for the money on his wedding day". My husband was downstairs waiting to be escorted out to where our ceremony would take place and our coordinator met him and asked if he could go get his credit card only minutes before the ceremony, he said no he would pay at the end of the night so she said she understood but " is there someone else who can go get your credit card" and he firmly said NO! She agreed that this was not the time and they would wait until later. At this point we were both late getting to the ceremony, the minister was amazing and understanding and he seemed like a very kind- hearted person we liked him a lot. The dj came out ( who was also great) and we all got ready to begin the reception and once again our wedding coordinator approached my husband and told him he needed to go get his card which his mother overheard and was extremely upset about so to pretty much shut them up about the money for the photographer, the money our wedding coordinator forgot to add to our planner, my father in law walked all the way to the other side of the resort to his room missing part of the reception including the mother and son dance just to pay our wedding coordinator for the mistake she made. These memories are something we will never get back, the hounding for money will forever be etched in our heads at our wedding and my father in law missed a good amount of the reception include his son and wife dancing just because our coordinator made such a bad mistake and then to bother both the bride and groom on their big day throughout the night is totally unacceptable. We lost out on money, photos and memories that we can never get back. It was complete BS how everything was handled, very unprofessional. Ultimately we should not have paid that money at all because it was the wedding coordinators mistake. So if you want a cookie cutter wedding at this resort be sure to read the fine print because there are a lot of things in the packages that can change and are at the discretion of the resort. When planning my wedding one of the tips were make sure the resort you choose only has one wedding a day, I should've listened to that piece of advice because this place is only worried about money not your experience on your big day.
After all of this we have called to speak to someone, left tons of messages with no return calls and have even reached out to the Excellence collection staff so whoever sees this from the resort and replies with " oh just contact customer service" we HAVE and we are expecting a call from you or an email. These are not our only complaints about your wedding department, there's more but I don't know how much more this review area can handle.