alittlerandr

Cute suitcases!

Fantastic idea - love it!

I like the 'did you know' section - easy way to get share random pieces of info. Very nice!

Very nice!

Hi Anapc, We figured we'd go with what we could find. My colors are primarily coral and turquoise. If you could email any information to [email protected], I would really appreciate it. Again, we're not looking for arrangements, bouquets, etc - we're just looking to but the freshcut stems. Thanks!!

Looks great!

Bags look great! Your guests will love them We're also concerned about how we're going to get everything there...although yesterday, I was at a thrift shop and found a HUGE suitcase for $1. While it's not the most attractive thing I've seen, it's got wheels and is sturdy...I think we should be able to fit the majority of our items in there, if we pack carefully. One more thing down!

Beautiful!

Does anyone know if/where a person can buy bulk or wholesale fresh flowers in Punta Cana? My mom is a florist and is hoping to make my bouquets, etc - Plan B is to make use silk flowers and bring them from home, but she's really hoping we can find wholesale fresh flowers down there. Anyone have any ideas for me? Thanks in advance!

I also used idcardgroup.com for my luggage tags (lanyards and id badge holders too). They had the best prices of the (many) that I looked at. I didn't need 100, but I figured I'd just share the extras with my guests. (I also created business cards at Vistaprint as inserts for the luggage tags - I didn't realize that the tags already came with inserts, so just a heads up on that.)

Thanks, this will be helpful!

I mixed up a few details above...I bought both groupons and living social deals....the living social automatically gave 30% off, the groupons automatically gave 50% off. I found that kind of odd since the premise was the same. Oh well!

I think I used 7 or 8 groupons. You can only use one groupon code at a time. I tried to find the right balance between the price breaks (the more you order, the lower price per unit) and ordering enough to qualify for free shipping. All of the shirts wound up being shipped together. It took awhile, but I think it was worth it.

Thanks! I just bought a bunch of the pomegranate citrus lotions. I tried the code but it didn't give free shipping, so I googled and found OCTSAVE10, which is $10 off an order over $30. Just thought I'd pass that long too!

Hi all - hope the planning is going well! I went on a spree tonight and finished up ordering everything for our OOT bags...and of course had to make a post about it. If you're interested in seeing what I did (I included links to everything + prices), you can see the thread here. Just had to share

Just ordered the final pieces for our OOT bags for our February wedding! I don't have everything in hand yet but will post pics when I do. (We're at 50 guests so far and are expecting 60 or so, so I probably ordered more than I needed to...better safe than sorry!) I was just excited so I thought I'd post the list with links and prices BAGS We decided to do net drawstring bags so the sand can filter out easily. They were $15 a dozen from orientaltrading.com BAGS (Initially we were going to do custom printed drawstring backpacks but figured we didn't need to slap our names all over everything. We found the best price/minimums at www.totallydrawstringbackpacks.com) T-SHIRTS Took advantage of a bunch of Vistaprint groupons ($10 for $50, plus everything on the site was 30% off) and ordered t-shirts for everyone in our group. Once shipping, etc was factored in, we got 70 shirts for about $150. T-SHIRTS MUGS One of the only things FI was really concerned with...he wanted to make sure we had 22 oz insulated mugs. (Apparently anything smaller just wasn't going to cut it!) We found the best combination of prices/minimums at riptidepromotions.com. We went with the $1.89/128 package. MUGS TO HAVE AND TO HOLD We got lanyards and clear badge holders for people to put their room keys in. I also ordered business cards from Vistaprint with a 'To have and to hold...your room key' message. The business cards will go into the badge holders. (I used the custom design feature to get the layout I needed.) Lanyards were $30/100, badge holders were $17/100, and business cards were $2.99/250. LANYARDS BADGE HOLDERS BUSINESS CARDS Along this same theme, we ordered hard plastic luggage tags (going to send them with the 'what to pack' brochure'); will add leftovers to the out of town bags. I designed business cards (free, again from Vistaprint) with space for name/address/phone to go inside luggage tag. Luggage tags, lanyards and badge holders all came from idcardgroup.com. Luggage tags were $48/100, luggage tag loops were $8.80/100. We got green tags/loops. LUGGAGE TAGS LUGGAGE TAG LOOPS BUSINESS CARDS FOR BETTER, FOR WORSE This was kind of a stretch, but it's kmy catch-all category. We're going to put bookmarks, Ever Clear soft lens cloths (for cleaning smudges off sunglasses, etc) and can coozies in a baggie. Then, I made address labels on Vistaprint that say 'For better, for worse' to go on the baggie. I also made another batch of free address labels that indicates the purpose of the cloths, in case people just think they're hankies or something. Bookmarks were $5.25/48, lens cloths were $3.25/60 and can coozies were $7.98/100. (I wasn't planning to order can coozies, but they were cute and super inexpensive, so I figured I'd go for it.) BOOKMARKS LENS CLOTHS CAN COOZIES ADDRESS LABEL FOR RICHER, FOR POORER We ordered decks of playing cards that have $100 bills printed on the backs. I also ordered more free address labels to stick on the packs. The labels say 'For richer, for poorer.' Playing cards were $8/12. CARDS IN SICKNESS & IN HEALTH This will be another baggie with another address label sticker from Vistaprint, this one reading 'In sickness & in health.' Inside the baggie will be Tums, burn gel wipes, and ibuprofen. Tums were $30/48, wipes were about $15/60 and ibuprofen (packs of 2 tablets) were $4 for 50 packs. (All came from Amazon.) Happy planning!

One other thing: my latest favorite thing on bestdestinationwedding.com is the planning threads w/pics. If you haven't seen any, I totally recommend looking at a few. (I just searched 'planning thread pic heavy') It's great to see, start to finish, what other brides are doing, from the dress to the jewelry to WP attire to OOT bags, etc. Gave me lots of ideas!

I asked Yinette about bringing in an outside photographer - she said they allow this and there is a $50 day pass charge (to be paid the day you meet to finalize the details.) Is anyone using an outside photographer? Any recommendations?

@Anied - I'm debating between hiring a dj and just playing an iPod. Are you having someone actually 'run' the iPod, or just creating a playlist and playing? Trying to figure out the best option for us. Thanks!

@erinmc...I haven't decided that. Are you? Have you seen any prices?

Well, I'm less than 6 months out from the big day! I feel like there are a lot of loose ends...for example, I'm planning to book a photographer/videographer/dj through the resort but haven't done so yet. I'm working through a travel agent (rather than the wedding coordinator on site) and she thinks it's early to worry about these things. I'm not so sure - I wouldn't just start looking at photographers 6 months out if I was getting married at home! Here's what I've done so far: -Selected date and time for ceremony -Chosen ceremony/reception package -Reserved restaurant (La Brasa) -All attire has been purchased -Working on OOT bags and attendant gifts So are there other major things I should have taken care of by this point? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

After scouring Amazon, eNay, etc for luggage tags, I finally found a great price on hard plastic luggage tags at www.idcardgroup.com. ($35.99 for 100 semi-rigid tags and $47.99 for 100 hard plastic tags.) They also have those plastic loop things for $6 - $9 per 100. I had business cards (aka luggage tag inserts) printed at Vistaprint...free. I opted for the hard plastic tags (ordered a few other things from the site to take advantage of the free shipping) so my completed luggage tags will have cost less than 50 cents each. Pretty pumped

Check deltavacations.com, too. That's who we're booking though. (Most guests are out of the Midwest.) If you sign up for their romance/friends and family (or something like that...it slips my mind!) package, each of your guests receives a certain amount off, and you'll get some money back after the event to help recoup costs. It's based on price, so each of our guests is getting $50 off their package, and we'll get $50 back for each package booked. Nice little bonus after the fact! The only thing is that your guests need to book with your travel agent so they can be part of the friends and family package. Just some food for thought!

Hi Skygirl, I did a quick google search and came up with this: Chances of being caught in a hurricane The hurricane season in the Caribbean is from June through November, with September historically being the peak month for the storms. There are exceptions. In 2003, hurricanes happened outside those dates. That year, the first regional hurricane hit the Caribbean in April and the last in December. And in 2007, the DR was affected by Tropical Storm Noel on 29 October and Tropical Storm Olga on 12 December. Hurricanes are rare events. The DR has been hit by 11 hurricanes in almost 80 years. Historically, big hurricanes have been widely spaced out through the years and for the most part have hit the less populated southwestern and western coasts of the Dominican Republic. Past recorded hurricanes that have hit the DR and with main affected area have been: Jeanne. (Category 1). 17 September 2004. East coast, Samana on the Northeast and North Coast (as tropical storm). Georges. (Category 3). 22 September 1998. La Romana to Santo Domingo on the southern coast. Hortense. (Category 3). 10 September 1996. East coast from Punta Cana to Samana. 130 kph. Gilbert. (Category 3). 11 September 1988. Barahona on the southwestern coast, with winds of 200 kph. Emely. (Category 4). 22 September 1987. Bani on the southwestern coast, winds of 220 kph. David. (Category 4-5). 31 August 1979. Santo Domingo on the southcentral coast to the southwest. Beulah. (Category 4). 10-11 September 1967. Barahona on the western coast with winds of 225 kms per hour. Ines. (Category 4). 29 September 1966. Barahona on the western coast, winds of 240 kph. Edith. (Category 2). 26-27 September 1963. La Romana on the southeastern coast, winds of 160 kph. Katie. (Category 1). 16 October 1955. Barahona on the western coast, winds of 125 kph. San Zenon. (Category 4-5). 3 September 1930. Santo Domingo on the southcentral coast. Note that the last hurricane to hit the capital city of Santo Domingo was Georges (Category 3) on 22 September 1998 and before that, Hurricane David (Category 4) in 1979 and San Zenon, Category 4-5 (September 1930). Thus the likelihood of you being caught in one is very small. http://dr1.com/weather/hurricanes.shtml#2 Hope that helps you argue your case!