Seriously Chic Destination Wedding in the Dominican Republic

If you’ve ever thought elegant design and beach weddings couldn’t possibly go together, this stunner of a wedding from Asia Pimentel Photography, Claire Duran Weddings & Events, and Amy Lauren Floral Design is about to prove you wrong. Kimberley and Marcelo traveled to the Dominican Republic from Maryland for a once-in-a-lifetime getaway that didn’t skimp on any chic details. We’re of course smitten with Kimberley’s bridal look, and every bit of the couple’s stylish and breezy wedding reception.

From the wedding coordinator and designer, Claire Duran Weddings & Events: Kimberley and Marcelo live outside of Annapolis, Maryland. When they got engaged in May 11 of 2016, they immediately decided that they wanted to get married an exact year after on May 11 of 2017 and they wanted it to be a destination wedding. In a family trip to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (DR) a few weeks after their engagement, they visited Boca Marina Restaurant & Lounge, and were immediately hooked. They had found their wedding venue!

Once we at Claire Duran Weddings & Events were brought onboard, we were incredibly excited to work with them. I, Claire, was born and raised in the DR and love the way that our business has developed this unique opportunity to work with brides in the US (and elsewhere) in planning their destination weddings, especially in a place and industry I know so well. We were thrilled to help them navigate the particularly complex task of planning their non-resort destination wedding and take away all stress regarding vendors communication and language barriers, in a country where customer service functions quite differently from what we are used to in the US.

Kimberley and Marcelo expressed how they wanted an intimate, colorful, and simply elegant celebration, and to let their venue speak for itself. Hence, we focused on letting the beautiful Caribbean backdrop to be the main decor takeaway, and asked Amy of Amy Lauren Floral Design (who also joined in from Maryland) to create beautiful pieces that would only serve to complement what was already going on instead of making them be the main statement. While in the DR non-tropical flower diversity is very limited, we were so lucky to get gorgeous imported garden roses and peonies that were simply put: spectacular! (especially considering how rare it is to work with those blooms down there). These flowers together with the exquisite rentals inventory from Divano, gave us all we needed to make their wedding dreams come true. These photographs by Asia Pimentel are a testimony of their beautiful day, and more importantly of their great love. We were specially smitten by the lovely opportunity they had to have their newborn be part of their Big Day. The photos with their little daughter, are without a doubt, our favorite.