amygirl1169

Beautiful, congrats!!

FYI:

http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...5/#post1263913

Guestbook:

I made postcards on VistaPrint and will be putting them on the tables with sharpies, then mailing them back to us:

PIC:

Programs/wedding day timeline:

Made these myself:

Front will have wedding week timeline and backside will have common Spanish phrases.

*note the spelling error on Republic  That’s what stress will do to you ladies, as I’m normally a spelling nazi!

Photographer:

We’ve booked HDC Photo for 4 hours on the recommendation of many brides on here.

Punta Cana|DominicanRepublic|Wedding : Photographer,Photography

http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...-caribe-45019/

TTD:

We will be having a photographically inclined friend do our Trash The Dress session after the wedding. I will likely wear the same dress, as I’m not worried about ruining it and have heard from many brides that it actually doesn’t really trash the dress anyway.

Music:

First dance: I initially let my FI chose this one – We are Man and Wife by Michelle Featherstone: YouTube - We Are Man and Wife Michelle Featherstone

But then I really always imagined our first dance song to be Ben Harper, so we are going with Forever and I will walk down the aisle to Man & Wife instead.

I will have all processional/recessional, dinner, dancing, first dance, father-daughter dance, bouquet toss, etc. music separated by playlists and a list of when to play each for the WC. But we are likely going to use the DJ since it’s the same price to rent the speakers as to have the DJ…

The bachelorette or reception dress (I haven’t decided yet)

From Forever21:

Legal day:

I wanted my 97 y.o. grandfather, who wouldn’t be able to travel with us to the DR to have a special role in our marriage, so we had him attend the legal day ceremony as our witness prior to the trip. We had a nice lunch afterwards and voila, we’re married! Of course both he and FI could not keep a secret, so almost everyone knows now!

Bridal Shower:

My lovely BMs threw me a (non surprise) tea party themed shower at my FSIL’s house:

Oh boy… I think that’s about it!!! Thank you everyone!

Travel Mugs:

Bridesmaid’s gifts:

Basically deluxe OOT bags, including flip flops, travel sized toiletries, luggage tags,

Bags, luggage tags, flip flops purchased at Old Navy. The majority of the other stuff at Target and cute passport holders from BCBG. I gave this to them at the bridal shower.

I’ll also be giving them little starfish bracelets. And including a letter to each of them thanking them and telling them how important they are to me. I will give this on the wedding day.

Groomsmen gifts: We purchased their outfits for them.. and black passport holders from BCBG.

Décor:

Bubbles for when we’re pronounced man & wife:

I also shared my decorations with another bride from BDW, pics to follow after the reception!

Ceremony Programs:

I made these from a template I found a link to through BDW (pm me if you would like the template). I made the inserts with white cardstock and glued them into fuchsia thicker cardstock and then stamped the front with silver ink: ‘Once upon a time…’ and the back: ‘…they lived happily ever after. The End.’

Our rings:

FI’s ring, order off Overstock.com after reading the amazing reviews on BDW (made from tungsten carbide, so it’s actually a tad bit darker than this pic).

My rings: 2 channel set diamond bands made from the gold/diamonds in my grandmother’s antique rings.

Only one band shown here w’ E-ring:

Resort:

This was the most stressful part in the beginning. I think as brides, we want the most elegant location possible, but that can often come at a hefty price for our guests. I started having major panic and anxiety about telling guests the price of resorts… However, after much searching for a good rate and high quality, we found a newer 5 star Dreams property at an amazing ‘early booking’ rate - $1360Cdn, incl taxes, 1 wk AI.

Dreams La Romana, DR: Dreams La Romana Resort & Spa: Unlimited-Luxury® Defined

Wedding gazebo:

Reception Location:

*Just a note to other brides: Some people wanted to book last minute and the resort sold out of rooms, so their only option was to come if they could share a room with another guest who’d already booked.

STD/Invitation:

I wasn’t initially going to do these, I had planned to do everything through our wedding website…but then I thought, when I look back at my wedding, I do want a keepsake of the invitation.

So I found a great deal at VistaPrint and ordered these. Approx total cost for 40 invitations including beautiful matching envelopes was only $76Cdn!

Front:

Back:

Wedding Website: Welcome - The Knot: Wedding Web Page Builder

DIY key/tip holder:

Inspiration (thanks to whomever posted this!!):

Ordered the holder part from eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...d=463459133016

Ordered the wrist coil key chains from another BDWer (VincesBride I think?)

Made the inserts (business cards) with VistaPrint and ta da!

Jewelry:

I stumbled upon these while helping my mom find her jewelry for the wedding at Le Chateau of all places! I didn’t think I wanted traditional pearls, but I think this is just so elegant and simple. Just like my dress.

Hair inspiration:

Makeup:

I think I will be doing my own makeup after a few trials at MAC.

Inspiration:

FI’s attire:

Medium brown suit from RW&Co, white on white striped dress shirt from Mexx and ivory on ivory striped tie (Donald Trump, purchased at Winner’s)

DIY Boutonnieres:

Bought the calla lilies at Hobby Lobby in Austin, TX, green ribbon at Michael’s.

DIY BMs bouquets:

Flowers and ribbon purchased from Michael’s.

The colour scheme:

fuchsia and orange

Our wedding monogram:

Made by a graphic designer friend of ours, as I couldn’t for the life of me figure out the DIY instructions for PowerPoint!

The dress:

It’s Mori Lee, destination line. I purchased it from Best for Bride in Etobicoke. Amazing prices and good selection.

On the model:

On me!

1st time trying it on (excuse the nasty face! Lol)

Final fitting:

The shoes:

Ordered from Zappos (Thanks LadyTrunck!):

My something blue:

The veil:

Actually my favourite part of the outfit

The inspiration:

Read my thread on the making of the DIY veil and hair flower/feather:

http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...irpiece-53019/

This was/is my favourite part of BDW and I found it enormously helpful, so I hope this will be helpful for other brides!

Thank you everyone for all of your support, advice, ideas – all of which wouldn’t be possible without Tammy and the other mod’s generous time.

So, here goes!

We leave in 4 days and I’ve come a long way, thanks to BDW. I started compiling this at the beginning of my planning, so it wasn’t too overwhelming.

The engagement story:

http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...roposal-43897/

The e-bling!

Engagement photos:

Done by a student of photography who stopped me one day while I was out with my grandfather and asked if she could shoot some pics… We shot some that day, and then she asked to do our engagement pics, they came out great!

She also did a bridal portrait/boudoir shoot, a few sneak peeks:

The same thing happened to me with Pastor Rick! No response after he was booked.. There has to be someone else, or there should be anyway, they'd make a killing!

I decided to have a friend perform our ceremony for us... hopefully more personal that way and better pronunciation.

Congrats, Jenne!

Not much longer for me now, and I've been swamped trying to get everything done, everyone packed, etc... (my parents have never really been away and are driving me NUTS with small details!)

Oh lala, Ultra! my FI worked there for a couple years (bouncing on the wknds). Gorgeous venue!!

Hmmm... I came across one sometime ago... I think it was maybe on Debbie's Dominican travel forum or BaltoBabe's... sorry, wish I were more help!

I agree with Ana. I initially told my FI the size I wanted to keep costs low, but secretly now wish it was a little bigger... but really, this is the ring he proposed to me with and the moment was so special that I want to remember it every time I look at my ring.

Instead, I went super blingy with the wedding bands! lol

I would talk to FI if you are going to go ahead and change it.

Good luck in your decision!

Mine's this Sunday too!!!

Go for a spray tan, that always makes me feel thinner!

Good luck to you!

Jenne - which carrier are you booked with? My TA is telling me its just Sunwing that doesn't have any space left and they should be able to get some from the other carriers... ?

Wow, I'm not impressed...

Heather just sent me a form that Tiara asked her to complete to confirm all the details of her wedding in MAY and she hasn't even sent me anything!!!!! (I've forwarded it to Tiara and ask if I should be completing the same)

That and I have a bunch of new people wanting to book and apparently the resort is sold out (my TA seems confident that it's a bluff and we'll get rates soon though).

Stresssss is starting to sink in!!!

*oh and if you google Dreams Resort La Romana, my avatar comes up under the images section and points to a super old post about chair sashes...WTF?! LOL

Oh boy, I didn't even think of songs to play while the guests were being seated... thanks!!!

I think it's partially because I'm getting so close to my wedding, work is making me a basket case and I had just come from a 2hr laser hair removal session (ouch!) but I was so touched by something I witnessed at the grocery store today that by the time I got out to the car I was in tears!

I was at one of those self bag grocery stores bagging up my groceries (you know where it's like a race to cram all your stuff into bags/boxes while the cashier rings through the next customer) and there was a very elderly man behind me, who very much reminded me of my grandfather. He was struggling a bit with a basket full of groceries, then struggled to pay by debit and get all the groceries into bags.

I wanted to help him but the cashier kept rushing me by moving the belt ahead and jamming all my groceries up to the end. Once he got all his groceries packed up, he then walked over to the Food Bank donation box and drop all of the bags in.

I watched him walk down the side walk empty handed and so wanted to tell him what an incredible thing it was that he just did.

It's so nice to see that people like that still exist in this world.

Great planning thread! Congrats and enjoy every moment!!

We booked our DW and purchased a house in the same week. It was incredibly stressful, but it'll be totally worth it!

Good luck!

I think the wedding party would stand during the ceremony.. no?

We got legally married and I was planning on keeping it a secret, but FI has a HUGE mouth and was too excited not to tell everyone... People were really cool and nonchalant about it - they were so happy for us and couldn't care less because the DW is the real wedding and celebration of our unity in front of the majority of our friends and family.

I wouldn't stress too much about it. It's just paperwork.

OMG, so sorry!!

I hope it all gets worked out. Sounds like West Jet is really stepping up to help..

Ugh, ya my sister is a loud mouth like that too. It's like she thinks if she's louder, she's right or something.

When I took her to get her dress altered (the dress I paid for, ran all around town to find, and now taking her for alterations because she's a 27 yr old without a license) she didn't even bring proper shoes to try the dress on, or a bra.

Then she yelled at ME, very loudly in the alterations place as to why I hadn't told her she needed to bring these things....

Ugh... it's so tiring dealing with these kind of people...

hahaha i sent it to my dad to see if he'd do it!! LOL

Wow, kinda reminds me of my sister!! Ok, maybe not quite as bad, but incredibly selfish and is completely oblivious to what her duties are supposed to be as a MOH.

Since your sis sounds a bit more extreme, I would definitely fire her. You have every right and reason, no one would question your decision!! Just tell her you've decided not to have a MOH or something... or explain how much 'work' is going to be involved on the big day and maybe she'll be relieved... not to mention the MOH speech! That could be a disaster if she has a drinking problem, like you mentioned.

Good luck to you!!