Mrs. Williams

This I agree with. I am really hoping that after looking at the Save the Dates - I put them in a separate post, that he will see how much this all means to me and he will reconsider. We've been really good about compromise, so I'm hoping this won't be any different. I just don't want to look back and say I hated my wedding.

Hi ladies! I have finally finished my Save the Dates. I got the idea from another BDW member, Misty, and I used our themes instead. Take a look and please leave feedback and your thoughts. I liked that Misty included where she got things from, which made it easier for me to do my own, so I am including it here as well. I ordered 200 luggage tags (a minimum of 100 per box but we had 175 to mail out) from Luggage Tag 1840-620x Colored Molded Rigid Plastic. I am selling the other 25 if anyone needs any if I cannot find anything to do with them. I ordered custom business cards from Vistaprint to print the front and back. The front of the card has our monogram on it and the back has the information for the Save the Date, just like a regular luggage tag would. I used satin ribbon for the loops from JoAnn's Fabric (couldn't find the color I wanted and needed from Walmart - although they have a GREAT selection of ribbon) and the purple ribbon from Michael's. I made the pearl rings from cream pearls purchased at JoAnn's Fabric and wire purchased from Michael's. I had extra pearls left over and since that's our theme, I will make my flower girls' barrette's out of the pearls. I purchased the envelopes from paper and more at 4 Bar Steel Gray Metallic Envelopes - Paperandmore.com I received the envelopes in less than 1 week. the envelopes were$11.99/50. I ordered the steel gray. I used water bottle labels to do the wrap around label which turned out great! I purchased them from onlinelabels.com I am so happy with them and now look forward to working on the formal invitations. Thanks for reading

So, the day has finally come for me to post the pictures of my luggage tag save the dates, which by the way were inspired by Misty's beautiful ones. Let me know what you think.

Jenn, thanks for the advice. I've had a talk with him and he's willing to give me thirty minutes of tradition at the reception, which by the way is only $1250 (including tax and gratuity) to rent out the restaurant - we're having the guest choose off of the restaurant menu and saving on the traditional platted dinner meal. However, he told me to not be surprised if our guests don't stay for the reception. I think he has some kind of warped idea of what a destination wedding looks like as a result of his cousin's wedding.

Thank you very much Dana and Nadia. My FI and I did not want to pay more for food when its included in the price of the hotel. Dana, did you get an answer as to whether there is an extra charge for people over 60 person count?

It sounds like you did well Rachel. I think I can come in under the budget if I get everything else in check. I am pretty creative and I like DIY so I could do a lot of the projects myself. But I want flowers and my MIL and Mommy won't allow me to have fake flowers, so that's a large part of the budget. Right now, the centerpieces alone are costing $75/table.

Jamy, what did you do for your wedding? Maybe I can borrow your simple ideas.

Thanks Rachel. Who is Morgan and where can I find her threads? I saw the budget thread and it got me feeling like $14,000 is not reasonable for 100 guests, which by the way is not a negotiable number unless they decide not to show.

Thanks Starchild. The 100 is a guestimate based on the number if invitations we sent out (200). We understand that everyone won't or can't make it, so I am hoping that we will come in under 100 guests. We decided to have a destination wedding because our families are too large to host one in the States for under $10,000. I really hope that we can make it happen. I love him dearly and I want to give him what he wants but I also want to get a lot of what I want. I don't want to look back at our wedding and think I caved on too much and regret any part of it.

Actually, we are expecting approximately 100 people to come. I got the budget from The Knot. The numbers are likely to change, however, I based it on $10,000 and I forgot to include our stay in the budget. As it stands, I blew the STD budget with the luggage tags ( I REALLY wanted them to look nice). I promised him that I would take a look at the budget and make some changes. Also, the photographer is costing us approximately $1500-2000 because we're bringing the guy who did our engagement pictures. We may come in around $10,000 reasonably. However, I think he wants to spend like $5,000 and at this point, that's just not happening. I really want to compromise and I'm trying, which is why I have promised to look at some stuff, see what's really important to me and cave on what's not. As far as his sisters are concerned, they are really close and they give their opinion on everything and he values it. I've dealt with this for the last 6 years. They mean well and we usually heed their advice but we do, in the end, make our own decisions.

@Krod100 - the flowers are real but I just don't understand why they're charging $100 for hydrangeas. Can someone please explain to me what comes with renting out the Seaside Grill for the private reception. For some reason I thought that it included the meal, drink and dessert for 60 people and today Yanna explained that it was only for the usage of the facility and that I would have to pay extra for the meal. If anyone has a different answer in writing from either Yanna or Tiara, please let me know.

I like all of these ideas. Ladies, please understand that I know this wedding is about both of us; however, I needed a catchy title that would entice people to reply to give me some help and advice. I have tried speaking with him in a calm manner but it's difficult to compromise when his sisters are in his other ear telling him that it doesn't make sense to have the kind of wedding I want in the DR instead of here. They believe that the wedding should be simple and no frills. I just don't believe that. His compromise with me now is that if I tone it down a bit and not try to spend so much money ($14,000, not including honeymoon), that he would give me the wedding of my dreams for our 10 year anniversary. Now what do I do?

@ Rachel - That is really good advice. I will break down the costs for him. I've already given him the budget that I altered from The Knot. I mean, where else can you have a reception for 60 people for $1250 ($1,000 +26% tax and gratuity) which includes their meal, drinks and dessert. @ Starchild, I quite understand that the wedding day is about both of us and it's about compromising; however, I'm finding it very difficult to find the happy medium and show him that we both can get what we want. Currently, his option is to have a wedding more like his cousins, and in 10 years, give me the wedding of my dreams. I want more of the dream now and NEVER do I want his cousin's wedding.

These are my sentiments exactly. He also said that he doesn't understand why our budget is $14,000 for a destination wedding. He said that if I wanted to do all of this stuff, then we should have the wedding in the states. However, I've already spent the money and time on the STDs - I will post when I'm completely finished. He didn't want much of a say in the wedding, until I started planning it and now he has an opinion about everything.

I think you're right. But also, his cousin had a destination wedding and they had a ceremony and that was it. After the ceremony the guys played basketball and the girls did their own thing. The bride and groom didn't see each othe until bedtime. That's NOT what I want for my wedding day.

Sungoddess, I am definitely trying to alter my "dream" to align with his, but it seems difficult to do. I'm not asking for a lot. I'm simply asking for 30 minutes of structure at the reception, a reception that he doesn't want AT ALL. He wants the ceremony and a cake cutting ceremony. Where do we find the middle ground?

My fiance and I have been dating for almost 6 years. For the last 5 years I've been dreaming of this wedding and I've been planning. Now that the time is finally here, he wants something completely different than I do. I want the tradition of the wedding in the States complete with the elegance and flare to be merged with the simplicity of the Dominican Republic. He is fighting me tooth and nail. He says that he doesn't think our friends and family want to pay all that money to join us to have to spend an entire evening doing wedding stuff (i.e., ceremony and a traditional reception). How do I get the traditional reception that I want, complete with the first dance, garter toss, and serenades from our fraternities and sororities, and a dance with my father to meld with the "all out party" that he's looking for? PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!

Does anyone know of an outside florist? I emailed Yanna a picture of the centerpiece I wanted and the price is $75 - for hydrangeas. I want fresh flowers, as my MIL and Mommy won't let me do fake flowers. HELP please!

Misty, I'm thinking of designing custom postage. Can you tell me how much the postage was to mail these out? Standard $.44 or 2oz $.61?

All of my items have been shipped. I'm getting so excited to see the final package and I will post the pictures as soon as I am finished.

Hello ladies! I've spent the last few weeks pouring over the numerous entries. It has been wonderful reading your feedback and your ideas. I changed my location from Dreams Punta Cana to Dreams La Romna and I think we are going to love it! We are getting married on May 28, 2011 and have confirmed the date. I'm a little nervous though. We're about to send out the STDs and we have about 300 people on our guest list. I am hoping that most will reply that they are not coming and we will get between 60-100. Wish me luck!

I hope so! That would really help with the budgeting.

Ahh man! I thought it was your travel agent, so that's the info I put on mine and I just placed the order without checking back to this site. That sucks and I don't think I can change it. Oh well! I guess I'm going to have to let go of perfection at some point, right?

Misty, can you tell me what the bottom of your card says please? I've been trying to figure that out all morning.

Thanks Pynkelemondae. For some reason, I was thinking that you guys had each guests name written in the name slot. I was trying to figure out how you did it. It makes more sense now that it's your names there. Also, I was having the most difficult time getting the line to be one color and the wording to be another. I'm going to try again, and when they're done, i'll show you the finished product - since I borrowed your idea.