HopingforDW

Hey everyone! First, just wanted to say thanks to everyone on this thread that took the time to share their budget info with me! All of your advice was incredibly helpful and I think we are closer to where we need to be in terms of starting our budget! Second, to Jessica, I currently live in Lawrence but am from a small town in Northwest Kansas. My FI and I met at KSU and we count Manhattan as our second home!! Third, I might as well let you all know that my FI and I have, for the most part, decided on our destination and it isn't Mexico. While we absolutely love it there we had to follow our hearts and our original plans so...we are getting married in Amsterdam!!!! I'm sure I will be the absolute only person on this forum getting married there. I am super excited and my Fiance is too!!! Long story short, his mother was Dutch and because she passed away when he was born, we get to see very little of her family. We wanted to get married in the Netherlands all along but logistically we just didn't see how we could make it work. However, we really sat down and evaluated what was important to us and we knew what our hearts were telling us. Needless to say, his family over here (in the Netherlands, sorry but we are currently over here in Europe visiting them and so my language is all mixed up, lol) is overjoyed and all of our American family (minus my father) are also really looking forward to it! Just wanted to share our story with everyone and also to say, after reading about so many people that are struggling with their decisions, to just follow your heart!!! We struggled and gave up on our original idea because we just felt like it was going to be an uphill battle all the way, and surprisingly that wasn't the case at all! Almost everyone (so far) has been really excited and understanding about our decision. We know we will face some difficulty but doesn't every bride and groom, no matter where they are getting married? We now know that we should have listened to ourselves from the beginning and we are committed to trying to see this through even if we come up against some severe obstacles (one being the fact that we can't legally marry here, yikes!). Sorry for the rant! Just really feeling the love right now, haha! Finally, could anyone direct me to a place that I might post about weddings in Europe??!! I know they are less than popular because of the expense but if there are any specific users or threads you can point me to I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks again to everyone for being so helpful! And I will be sure to try and remember to post here every once and awhile to give you all an update on how things progress for us!!! Lacey

Hi all! I apologize for not replying sooner! The holidays were so crazy and my FI and I are now in The Netherlands to see his family. Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for making me feel so welcome! It is so great to post and people actually take the time to simply welcome you to the forum! On another note, we have (more or less) decided on our location and I'm sure I will be the absolute only person on this forum getting married there. We are going to get married in Amsterdam!!!! I am super excited and my Fiance is too!!! Long story short, his mother was Dutch and because she passed away when he was born, we get to see very little of her family. We wanted to get married here but logistically we just didn't see how we could make it work. However, we really sat down and evaluated what was important to us and we knew what our hearts were telling us. Needless to say, his family over here is overjoyed and all of our American family (minus my father) are also really looking forward to it! Just wanted to share our story with everyone and also to say, on a personal note, go with your heart!!! No matter what kind of adversity you face in planning a destination wedding and no matter how much you worry about everyone else, this is simply your wedding day!! Oh and could anyone direct me to a place that I might post about weddings in Europe??!! I know they are less than popular because of the expense but if there are any specific users or threads you can point me to I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks to all for the wonderful welcome greetings!

This is really helpful! I just started creating some of my own spreadsheets but with this website it looks like I won't have to do all that extra typing!! Thanks for this post!

Hi Hilton Brides! I am a Newbie to this forum so I have found all of your postings to be absolutely fantastic!!!! I have been researching several places in Cancun for a possible destination wedding but after reading all of your helpful advice I am practically sold on the Hilton! It sounds so amazing and perfect for what my FI and I are looking for (i.e. - kid friendly, large group accomodations, reasonable pricing for guests), not to mention the site visit pics (thanks for those!) posted by others and looking at the Hilton websites pics! I am sure that I will be breaking some sort of etiquette rule here so feel free to rant at me if I am, but would anybody be willing to share the estimated cost of their wedding at the Hilton with me? I know money is one of those things that my mom says I'm never supposed to talk about but my FI and I are going crazy!!! ALL of the books say plan a budget, etc. etc. but we have no real clue what destination weddings cost for people (we are the first in our circle to even consider one) and we find ourselves at a loss for how to start planning when we don't (realistically) know what to expect in terms of pricing. Plus, we are getting ready to break the news to our parents about our plans for having a destination wedding and having some kind of price range would make it that much easier on us!! I would be SO GRATEFUL for any advice or info and feel free to PM me if you aren't comfortable posting that kind of info to the forum. Thanks again to everyone for any help you can give and also for being so thorough and helpful in your postings! It makes it a lot easier on those of us out here who are just beginning to plan! Looking forward to getting to know all of you!!

Hello all! My name is Lacey and this is my first post. I am brand new to the forum and you all were highly recommended by a user on TripAdvisor.com. I am not sure yet about my wedding date or location. My Fiance and I are considering several places (Aruba, Puerto Rico, Cancun) but we don't have any specific ideas about what we are looking for yet! We are considering getting married in May of 2010 but wouldn't mind September of that same year. The only problem is hurricane season (of course!), though I hear that places like Aruba are outside of the hurricane zone? I am really excited to have found a place to share advice and learn important tips from other destination brides. I would really appreciate any advice anyone has on the preliminary planning phase, especially tips on how to make all of our important people (parents, siblings, best friends) okay with the idea of a destination wedding. Hope to start chatting soon! Lacey