Bride2012

After the fact Planning thread: Our background: My husband and I have been dating about 2 years prior to getting married. We went to the same college and even graduated on the same day…but we never met. We had some mutual friends and sometimes I would be at the gatherings and sometimes he would…but never at the same place at the same time. And instantly fell for me. He started asking his friends about me but everytime he asked I was in a relationship or he was. One day I was bored at work and asked one of my friends to add me to a work chit chat email thread, it was something they did and just made fun of one another to make time pass….and guess who one of the members was…my current husband ! He started asking me a few questions and said he was interested, I had recently got my heart broken and told him all I wanted was a friendship. So a few weeks later he invited me for a “friendly†dinner at his house, he was making crab legs…and I couldn’t resist a free meal…and we have been inseperable ever since. (sidenote:no nookie was given that night…im a good girl!!! LOL)! Proposal: When we first started dating I told my husband when I got married all I wanted/needed was a wedding band…nothing fancy as I would be marrying the man I love…and to me that’s all that mattered. But as soon as it was clear that he was the one…all that went out the window. He started joking that he already purchased my “band†and was just waiting for the right moment to give it to me/propose. I started to think he was serious so I marched him into a jewelry store and showed him what type of ring I wanted, told him if he bought me a band I would say no, no matter who was around! LOL!. So he pointed at a different ring and asked, “what about this one†it was gaudy and flashy and I told him I wanted something vintage classic like the one I pointed to. Turns out he had already purchased the ring I said was too gaudy…he dropped me back off at work, drove 30 minutes home and back to get the ring I wanted and proposed the next day on Mothers day in front of all his family and friends . Picking the resort: We had to find a resort that would work with everyone’s time and budget, we chose the DR because it was one place neither of us had been before…we really wanted Hawaii but the travel time was horrendous…so we chose something a little closer. We didn’t want anyone to spend 2 of their vacation days solely on a plane. We contacted our travel agent Marcy and she was so helpful, she contacted all my guests for me and she was the POC for the hotel. She got us a great rate and it even included transfers. I am so glad to have found her! The Majestic resort has good reviews online, that’s how/why we chose them. We decided on the elegance as opposed to the colonial because we knew that was more our guests speed. The cost was/is slightly higher but well worth it. I will do a resort review separately. Save The Dates: We sent out our save the Date Magnets from Magnet street, we mailed them off in June to make sure everyone knew our intentions. Our Logo: I purchased these from Etsy and it was well worth my $5…we put it on EVERYTHING! Invitations: I don’t think I have a good photo, but I did passport invitations, took a lot of time…but my guests LOVED everything about them! OOT Bags: I was so busy with everything I didn’t get a shot of everything in the OOT bags…they took up and ENTIRE suitcase all on their own. Each person had a tshirt, a first aid kit (came in handy after my nephew had a peanut allergy incident), a personalized mirror for all the ladies as well as pashminas. Each bag had a welcome brochure, pens, notebook, hats, keychains etc, etc. Too bad I didn’t get to take a picture . They also had 20 0z drinking cups…these didn’t get used much, Colors: My husnband wanted an ocean blue and silver, so we found the closest color from the manufacturer, Alfred angelo had a marine blue he loved, no silver…so we went with cornflower…it worked! Bridal Party: Bridesmaids We purchased the bridal party dresses, each dress was different and they had the same shoes. Nina Sammi in Silver. I bought them personalized bracelets as their gift and also bought their earrings for the wedding day. Groomsmen: We bought the groomsmen suits from www.studiosuits.com, we had a few hiccups, one groomsmen didn’t get their linen shirt on time, and was charged 3 times to his credit card. The suits were supposed to have working cuff links as my husband bought them personalized cuff links for their groomsmen gifts…none of the suits had them…including his own. But for the price of the suits and the quality..we give it a thumbs up. Ties: The ties were purchased from solidcolorneckties.com. They didn’t have a blue and silver striped ties, so they went out their way to make one for us. It came together so nicely! The bridal party also got tshirts to wear for the day before the wedding…loved them. We only had a ringbearer (my son) we got his suit from a seller from Etsy…a little pricey…but well worth it. http://www.etsy.com/shop/finehandmadeclothing The sign he held came from another etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/OurHobbyToYourHome?section_id=6505844 Everyone laughed and loved it! ….one side note…he SOOOO stole the show Grooms Gift: This was a hard one, I did a BD shoot, I lost 30 Lbs for the wedding and wanted him to have a nice “before kids†keepsake! LOL! I also bought him a watch, he loves his bling and I knew he really wated a nice one My dress(es) I went shopping way too early, I found a dress I thought I loved, but the more weight I lost the less I loved it. So I sold it on www.preownedweddingdresses.com and fell in absolute love with this one: It was soooo made for me! Casablanca 1995 I also bought a reception gown from www.jasminesbridal.com it is a knockoff of a pnina 4066, I had so much fun in it and glad I had a reception gown! My jewelry was my something borrowed: www.renttherunway.com Shoes: My husband picked the hardest color to match! Luckily right before we left I found these from bebe.com! I abz loved them! The rings: My husband got three rings, his blinged out ring, a tungsten carbide ring, and a titanium ring. It was so hard to find a mens diamond wedding band, but after months of searching we finally found his! The other two we got for a low price for attending a wedding presentation, and since I didn’t need a wedding band, we got two for him…lucky fellow. We have a certificate for two more if anyone is pressed for cash and needs two bands, we will gift it at a reasonable price! My rings (plus his ) we got from Littman Jewelers…a little pricey, but we love em! Photography: I did a lot Lot LOT of research, and after looking at photos and reviewing the prices we decided to go with HDC, we definitely made the right decision, best prices and the videographer stayed with us until the end of the reception. Arnaud was great to work with and friendly, he made sure we got the video to us before we left, and we were on a time crunch. For our TTD we used ***** Nova, Brides…if you get a chance to work with her, I would do it! Her artistic style and her personality made our shoot so much fun. The photos that we have seen so far have absolutely taken our breath away! We couldn’t afford her for the wedding, but I wanted her after seeing her work www.*****novablog.com. She responds quickly and we absolutely adore her and her husband. For our reception we bought a camera to use, it was one of the best decisions we made, we cut out that cost and our guests had so much fun “playing†photographer, we got a lot of good shots and we are so glad we invested in a quality DSLR. Ceremony: Our ceremony started bright and early at 11am, we did it at the Gazbo because I am clumsy and would trip in the sand. It was a gorgeous day outside and I couldn’t have asked for more perfect weather! Decorations I bought Poms off etsy and some chair ribbons on ebay, we put a “please no facebooking†note on everyones chair (some took offense, but its our day and we wanted it private so we didn’t care), I made tissues for each seat and bought some wedding bells of etsy. Our WC didn’t charge us to set it up. Our sand ceremony frame off etsy from sayanythingdesign Bouquet: Truly blessed that the resort bouquet matched so perfectly! No extra cost except $15 for the bridesmaids single flower and the groomsmen single flowers.

She posted our full blog a couple of days ago!!! Its in my signature line, any brides getting married in the DR should definitely check her out!

My review should be posted tomorrow, its been a work in progress! lol! Who knew it would take so long...

There is A LOT of beach on Cap CAna, just let her know your vision and she will accomodate that for you, I have seen some of her sand photos and they are amazing as well! You WONT be disappointed!!! When are you all heading out there?

Thank you!! I highly reccomend her as a photographer or at least a TTD, her work is AMAZING!! And they are such a joy to just be around.

Okay, the wedding is over , it's been about 2 weeks since I've even THOUGHT about eating healthy...time to get back on track. I think I am going to start back on the Asylum either tomorrow or Monday. I've gotta stay on it so my husband doesnt leave me! LOL! J/K!

I absolutely adore Katya's work, I feel extremely blessed to have had hernto do our Trash (rrock) The dress photos. If you are in the DR i highly recommend her as your photographer....here is our blog: www.katyanovablog.com

Congratulations MRSmely !!!! You look absolutely gorgeous! Your pro pics look like they are going to be AMAZING!

Thanks sgreen99! That is so sweet of you!

We did the mixed grill and the open international bar.

Our wedding was at 11am, the buses picked us up at 1am, we got back to the resort around 5pm, our guests rested then we went to the steakhouse for dinner, since it was included. The WC will also allow you to do the dinner on another day other than the wedding day, its your choice.

It honestly went by so fast, my 5 year old loved it as well as the other 2 kids that came along. Everyone who went said it was the best part of the whole week, you wont be disappointed

I had the most AMAZING Rock the Dress session with katya Nova, if you are in the Dominican and want an amazing TTD shoot, I would definitely use her!!!! www.katyanovablog.com Contact:[email protected] Our teasers! I absolutely LOVE her and her work!!!