scarletbride

You guys! The one person who I really needed there just told me today she just found out she's pregnant (my sister!). I am so happy for her, but the baby will only be a couple months old at game time, so she can't go. I can't get married without my sister. I just told my FI this and now he's upset because I won't want to go to Punta Cana to get married anymore. Easy for him to say, his sister is coming! I can't believe he's upset at me about this, how the hell was I supposed to foresee this happening (especially when she told me her and her husband weren't planning on having any more kids). I could strangle him!!! I know I'm just upset but I feel like throwing this engagement ring out the window...

Argh. In the beginning, the idea of a destination wedding was a total "ah-hah!" moment. FI and I could pay for our way with our meager salaries, opt for the free resort wedding, and have our honeymoon all rolled into one. At first, our nearest and dearest were totally on board. The reason I decided to start booking was because of the initial positive response I got from everyone. Now, a few months later, I've already got people backing out.. people that were originally "I wouldn't miss it!" The wedding is frickin 12 months away, and people are going to automatically say no because they can't afford it.. I privately consulted the most important people to me prior to announcing my DW, and after everyone confirmed "yes! awesome!" I announced it...... and now all those people are backing out. And here's the kicker: they're backing out, then making ME feel bad about having as DW... "well, you should have known people weren't going to be able to come. Why don't you just honeymoon there?" Because FI and I have about 3k to spend and we would like to have a nice wedding AND honeymoon. We have a 6 year-old daughter together and we just never get any time to ourselves, we've never been on vacation alone together and we've been together for 8 years! I don't understand how some of you people have 50-100 people following you around the world, my own sister won't even try to save any money to come... and I gave her 14 months notice, I mean really! So I've been playing with the idea of cancelling the DW plans and planning a local wedding, but the idea of doing that literally makes me want to cry. I don't want to talk about chair covers and sashes and DIY candles and place cards and all the frickin wedding porn. Especially on a meager budget, that just takes all the fun out of planning when it's just stressful. I don't want to plan it at all. I have a Dominican lady doing all that for me, and I'd like to keep it that way. But I don't want to get married without my friends and some family there either. I wish I was rich

Digado, which steel drum band are you going with? Is this offered through Mayte or did you contact them on your own? I would love to have a steel drum band but hadn't heard of any in PC. I was going to play it over the speakers. live would be better

If I only have 1 table (very small wedding) do I really need to pay $500 for table decor?

1 hour is the standard length. 2 hours is too long. I was at my cousin's wedding as a bridesmaid and she had a wedding in which the ceremony/reception was in the same place, and she took 2 hours for her photos. Her guests got pretty irritated, and as a bridesmaid I wanted to strangle the photographer by the end.

Is anyone else not hiring a DJ or having dancing and such? Will they still charge $400 for a sound system if that is the case? I am having a wedding with about 15-20 guests, all family. Would just like an intimate ceremony, cocktail hour after while I get photos done, followed by a dinner with a set up just like Natalie's (long table). I assume paying for $5pp for cocktail hour, $8pp during dinner would be the cheapest route, and just let people order a la carte. Does everyone agree? There is no way my FI is going to agree to pay $400 to play music on our ipod during this time (we're paying for our wedding ourselves).

I've decided to do the symbolic ceremony with Pastor York -- we're going to be married by our ordained friend literally before we head to the airport, and he is going to file the paperwork with the courthouse at home the day we are to be married in PC. So when I see him walking down the aisle.. we will be legally wed. Hehe. Just a way to make the symbolic "like the real thing"...

The bonfire is only 15 minutes long... does anyone really want to pay $100 for a 15 minute fire??

I just received my official confirmation! 06/15/2012 at 5:00pm My CC was charged 3795.00 dominican pesos.. which accounts for the 32 cents. hehe To those wondering -- it took 8 days from when I submitted my paperwork (request form, cc auth form, copies of ID, cc, etc.) to when I got my confirmation e-mail. Mercy has been replying to all my e-mails but on my confirmation it says Awilda will be my coordinator. I am assuming that will change 4 or 5 times by the time my actual wedding day gets here though That's ok, I'm going into this wedding with the idea that DPB will take care of me when I get there. I've booked Pastor York already, I'm going to book HDC Photo most likely, and then just chill! Not sure if I can afford a private reception and such so it's great that I don't need to make any decisions until I get down there. I can just save $$ and make all my decisions based on the amount I've saved when I get there. It really takes so much stress off funding this wedding ourselves to know I can tailor it to my budget when we arrive.

Mandys, they charged my credit card today -- $100.32 -- thirty-two cents? But anyway, no confirmation yet.... at least they're processing the paperwork though. Woohoo!

Hah! That's the photoshoot from the photos on their official Dreams site. Cute. Still waiting on my confirmation.. Mercy did reply with a "Thanks!" the next day... thats it... oh well, I'm trying not to stress because it's still 403 days away (I have a countdown widget on my phone... I'm not obessed... not really.. ) and I have plenty of time to humm and haw over things, but obviously I can't put deposits down on other stuff until I know this is final. I did confirm with Pastor York already since he requires no deposit, and he already had a 4pm ceremony for 6/15/12 (my day)! He is gracious enough to do mine at 5pm but wow, people are getting started early!

oh and the site is www.costcotravel.com -- you don't have to be a member to browse the packages & price them out, but you do have to be a member to buy them.. but membership isn't much, $50, and totally worth it if you don't already shop at Costco.

Both!! They do the whole package

Costco Travel has really good deals for both Dreams resorts in PC! Did you check with them?

*waves* Hi everyone! I'm new! I'm in the process of confirming a June 15th, 2012 wedding with DPB. I sent in my request form and CC auth form a couple hours ago by e-mail. Mercy has been responding to my e-mails thus far, quickly I might add. I saw those photos of the (flags? sheets?) hanging from the palm trees and fell in love. Mercy said the only ceremony decorations that comes included in the "free" package are the white chair covers and ceremonial table, which is fine with me.. I'm not really into bows, or arbors, or what not. But those sheet things from the palms? GORGEOUS! BRILLIANT! I'm dying to know if that bride rented those, or just brought them herself (what material? where? who had to tie them to the trees?!) What a clean, crisp look. Love it! Also... I'm a total budget bride. Anyone else out there bankrolling this thing themselves? We need to share ideas. I'm definitely going to go for the semi-private dinner, but what after? Would it be fun just go to the disco? Has anyone seen the bonfire thing? I'm only going to have about 20 guests so, it's not a total big deal if I don't pull out all the stops, but I still want to have a WEDDING and have FUN! Anyway, I'm looking forward to stalking this thread for the next year or so...!