cinnagirl

I got quoted $600 for the ceremony. Same for the reception decorations.

I just love that belt!! Was it separate from the dress? Do you remember what brand the belt is? That dress fits you so perfectly!

Congrats and welcome! I'm also getting married in the DR in May 2013. Have you picked a resort yet?

That's so exciting!!

We wanted to have our wedding the week before our date because Canada has a long weekend then. It just made sense, so that people would have to take less vacation days. Except my fiance and brother have exams that week, so we had to push it back. I'm sure it'll be just as great though! And you are NOT far behind at all. We didn't even start looking into anything wedding related until 4 months after we got engaged. We officially changed our wedding to a DW 6 months after being engaged. You have plenty of time!

I have a maid of honor and a matron of honor. We're all really close friends from a time when we used to work together. I couldn't really choose between them, so I figured why not choose both!

Getting married is starting a new family together. You and your fiance are a family now and you are the most important people to each other. If he says he's okay without his brother there, I'd say go ahead with the DW. He sounds like a great guy! It's hard when you're starting you're own family because you're each breaking off from your own families and you come to realize that you have to create boundaries between your new family and your old families. You have to both stand up for yourselves and say, "this is what's best for our family" in regards to holidays, relationships, weddings, funerals; essentially anything to do with family. This might be one of those instances. If your fiance is saying he's okay with it, trust your fiance to know what's best for him. And to be fair, my fiance's brother was missing his dad and other brother (who was the best man) for his wedding due to his brother's addiction. It sucks, and it can be hard, but he did move on from it. He still had a great time on his wedding day.

We're going the symbolic route but having our friend perform the ceremony. But we're not getting him ordained because we don't really see the point. Him being ordained wouldn't mean that we could do any of the paperwork in DR, and he has no intentions of ever marrying again. Plus, he was looking into it and I think he said he had to be a member of an association for a year before he could perform a wedding? (I'm not sure where he found this). Anyhow, we're saving the money, having him do the ceremony unordained and just popping into city hall at home to sign the paperwork. Easy peasy.

Our airfare has been published, which is what we had been waiting on for quotes. We're flying with Sunwing.

We just put down our deposit!! The ball is rolling. We'll see how many people book. April, we're putting down our deposit and then everyone that wants to come can put down their own deposit. They have to pay the rest of their bill in 6 months. Having to pay everything up front doesn't seem right at all. We get a free room credit after every 5 rooms booked. But everyone's bills is put together as part of a "pool" and the free rooms go to whoever you want...yourself or anyone else.

Venus, I love your little sand bottles!! Where did you get them? All of your inspiration pics are great! I might have to borrow some ideas. I love the chuppah with the draped flowers.

Wow, your pictures are amazing! I was thinking about doing our engagement photos in a forest, but now I really want to incorporate some travel elements like you did. You two are so cute together!

I'm going barefoot for the ceremony and wearing sandals for the reception just because the reception floor is wood.

Could she get one of those long line bras to go underneath? I think there are some that are cut lower in the back. Do you remember the designer/style for this dress? I think it's amazing!

Go ahead with your wedding. There are people in your life that love you and want to celebrate your wedding with your enough to make it a priority in their lives. I think it's unfair to them to cancel the whole thing just for the sake of one person. I am by no means saying that getting pregnant should be less of a priority than someone else's wedding, but the fact of the matter is YOUR wedding is YOUR priority and not anyone else's unless they decide it is. You have made a generous offer to him, and the ball is in his court now. I really like the idea above of having a webcam there so the brother can take part in the ceremony. Or even have someone videotape your day and he can watch it afterwards if he chooses not to come. I've come to realize that people will always have different priorities in their life than your wedding. I just had a bridesmaid bail out, who after months and months of telling me she was so excited to come and that money wasn't an issue, just told me that she is struggling financially and doesn't think she'll be able to make it. She says this as I watch her spend her money frivolously on random junk. Our wedding is not her priority. We have not told FI's addict brother about the wedding, because he will do everything is his power to ruin in. Our wedding is definitely not his priority. This is the way it is with some people, and while it can hurt and throw a huge wrench in your plans, you really need to do what YOU two want to do. Because in the end, it's your wedding day, not the best man's. Lots of hugs! I hope you guys can get it all worked out.

I think everyone should post an inspiration board, or at least a couple photos, of their theme and decor ideas. I love what everyone has been saying so far but pictures are always much more fun to look at. Even looking back on past weddings at Jellyfish, it's great to see the different decor. It really changes the feel of a wedding.

For anyone in Ontario, I think Solutions Organization Store would have little boxes for that. I'm not sure where else you'd be able to get them...Michael's maybe?

Hahaha, it does make me feel a bit better. At least I know I'm not over-reacting. I've just been like, "seriously?!" for the past few weeks since then.

I'm going to have to agree with this. It would probably be better to have no bridesmaids than to have bridesmaids that you barely even know.

This is such a great list! So glad I came across it.

I think with weddings, and destination weddings in particular, there isn't always a "normal" to everything. I don't see anything wrong with that. A lot of people have their bridal shower guests self-address the envelopes that their thank you cards will come in. I don't think anyone would mind. What a fun way to celebrate your engagement. I hope you have a great party!

I'm totally going to do this. Seems like such a waste to throw out the cake! I love this thread. I will definitely be coming back to it before the wedding to make sure I have everything covered.

What a lovely dress! I like the bow detail at the bottom, so cute. It looks great on you!

Dallas, I agree with the other ladies, that dress looks super cute! I'd also like to know what designer/model it is so I can check it out when I go shopping with my girls this week.

I think the deal we got is different. Our travel agent got us a deal where everyone puts down their own deposit (we could do it ourselves but I don't trust people to pay us back) and then once we have 30 people our prices drop. We were told that for group rates it's like a collective fee, not "this person pay this and that person pays that." So when you get the free rooms you can put it towards whomever's bill you want. But we don't have to pay for the rest of the balance until January. Is this a deal you got directly from Dreams? It doesn't make sense to be that you would have to pay for everything up front to get free rooms. You chose a gorgeous resort though! I'm so excited to go.