diadiamond

Again I totally apologize for the constant updates and content. I'm just trying to get us all caught up on what's been happening since my engagement. I just found this site earlier this week and have pretty much been on it non-stop. I'm at the end of my reading week at school so I had no classes this week. Also work has been really slow (it's always super slow in retail in February). So I guess I just have the time on my hands lol. After we got engaged I started thinking about a wedding. At first we thought that a wedding at home was a definite must! We were set on getting married on our anniversary in 2015 (October 4). We originally wanted a fall wedding at an historic mansion that was in our local area. We wanted our colour to be plum and we wanted an awesome party. After talking to some of our friends and pricing a wedding at home we quickly determined that it was not possible for us to have a wedding at home unless we waited until 2016 or 2017. We don't want to go into debt over our wedding for various reasons most importantly my student debt (I went to university and college). It was my fiancee's idea to have a destination wedding and after doing some research and reminiscing about much fun we had in Cuba we decided a destination wedding was for us. We had also heard that doing a destination wedding was much cheaper than having a domestic wedding. Since we are eager to start our lives together and love Cuba we thought it was for us. We were set on having our wedding at the Melia Cayo Santa Maria in Santa Maria, Cuba; however, since we had only been to Cuba once we thought we should do some more "research." After our exams and a little bit of research we found a really good deal on a trip to the Brisas Guardalavaca in Holguin, Cuba. We left on December 14, 2013 to scout out another possible location for our wedding. I think it's best to actually visit your location before you book, just so you know what it's actually like. You can also take some in depth pictures to show the people you want to invite so they can get a sense of the hotel. Holguin was stunning! The Brisas is a slightly lower star rating than the Melia, but a bit cheaper too. Brisas was beautiful, but a little too small and the food wasn't quite as good. The people and the culture made up for the small details though. Our trip was magical despite the constant rain and "cold front" (22 degrees, it was heavenly for us being Canadians). Everything was wonderful until we we supposed to return. We got delayed in Cuba about 30 hours because of the ice storm in Toronto. Aside from our return we had a great time, but we just didn't have that feeling like we did when we were at the Melia. Upon our return we definitely decided that we wanted to get married at the Melia Cayo Santa Maria. I've posted pictures of both resorts on my page. If you would like a more in depth review or more pictures let me know. Happy Planning! -Dia

Our Story: After quitting my mind-numbing full-time job in August, 2012 I decided to go to college to upgrade my education and find more meaningful employment. After my first few days of college I just felt like I didn't fit it because I was so much older than the students in my class (I was 23). I had no friends at school and wasn't sure if I made the right decision in quitting my job. I came home after class to binge watch Community on Netflix and eat chips until my loneliness went away. My brother persuaded me to attend a networking event that his friends were in charge of. We went off to the event which started with an ice breaker activity where there we had to fill out our page finding people to fulfill all of the categories. He needed to find someone who watched the Summer Olympics in London and I needed someone who didn't eat breakfast that morning. I was immediately drawn to him when I saw him, tall and blonde with stunning light blue eyes. I knew I had to talk to him. So after chatting with a few people I made my move, once we started talking we didn't stop. A few hours must have gone by and instead of listening to the speakers or talking to other people we just talked to each other. He asked for my number and I gave it to him. I texted first later that night. A few weeks after texting and talking back and forth he asked me out. We did the standard first date dinner and the movies. I wasn't sure at first, but by the end of the night I really started to like him. We kept dating and talking then on October 4, 2012 we took the plunge and became "facebook official." So many milestones happened between October 4th and our proposal. He was the only guy I've dated who let me meet his family. We're really close to our families so we did the whole meeting the family thing around Christmas (which a lot of people thought was too soon, but we didn't care). By December we had already said the L word (love). It just felt right there were no other words we could use to convey how we felt about each other. We spent new years together in Northern Ontario where we got a hotel room and hung out. February and March were smooth sailing for us too things kept getting better and better. By our six month anniversary in April we were convinced we were meant for each other. For our six month anniversary he got me a sapphire promise ring as a symbol of his commitment to me and took me to my favourite Mexican restaurant. His parents decided in March to book a trip to Cuba and invited me to come a long with them which was so sweet and made me feel welcome and accepted by his family. Both my fiancee and I had never been on a plane before or to Cuba, we weren't sure if we would like it. When April 13th came around we packed our bags and begun our journey to the Melia Cayo Santa Maria in Cayo Santa Maria, Cuba. We instantly fell in love with Cuba: the people, the beaches, the weather, everything! While on the beach one day a wedding was happening and we decided to watch hand in hand. During our trip we took the sunset catamaran cruise which was very romantic (even though I got seasick). Everything about Cuba was magical to us. We had an amazing trip and I got to know his family a lot more. After our trip to Cuba I had exams then my summer vacation started. I got a job working retail for the summer and he worked full-time in the summer, but we still managed to fit in: a trip to Canada's Wonderland, the CNE, and camping. We went camping in June and it was my first time ever going camping. I had an amazing time and would do it again in a heart beat. Through being with him I've discovered that I truly love the outdoors and being in nature. In August my fiancee asked me about how I would feel if he proposed soon. I obviously said that I would love it because I love him and know that I want to be with him. I knew what kind of ring I wanted and we went to peoples to try on rings, but I made it clear that I wanted to proposal to be a surprise (even though I usually hate surprises my proposal was one thing I've always wanted to be a surprise). As September approached school started for both of us and we knew it would be a hard year as we are both due to graduate. For our one year anniversary we decided to do something special and booked a room in wine country in Niagara falls which was so romantic. I thought that's when he'd pop the question, but he didn't which kept me on my toes. After our anniversary we decided it was time for our parents to meet each other and it went well. While I was busy he apparently pulled my parents aside and asked for their blessing. After I heard about it I was sure that It wouldn't be long. Our Proposal: Things were still going well for us despite being much busier than we were when we started dating. With the holidays coming we knew that we wouldn't get to spend as much time together because of exams and work. At the end of November we both ended up having that weekend off so we spent it together. We decided to check out our local santa clause parade mostly because I had never been to one. My parents are devout Muslims so we were never allowed to do anything related to Christmas when growing up. We had such a great time despite the temperature being minus fifteen! After the parade we went to grab some hot chocolate from our favourite coffee shop then headed off to take a walk in the park we always go to when in the area. We walked to our spot overlooking the river and that's when it happened. He told me how much I meant to him and how much he loved me then got down on one knee. I was so shocked because I didn't see a proposal coming I paused for a while to make sure that what was happening was real then said yes. After a long embrace we left the park and called our friends and family to tell them the good news. My fiancee being as amazing as he is set up a manicure appointment for me to get schellac on my nails so I can show my new rock off. After my manicure we had dinner then updated our facebook status. This is just the beginning of our story. Hope you enjoyed reading it =)

I've never written a blog before, and I'm not quite sure what a blog is supposed to be like. I'm just going to go with my heart and write what comes naturally to me. The reason I wanted to do this is because I wanted to chronicle my journey down the aisle (or the beach I guess since that's what we're planning). I have a type A personality and thrive off of organization, structure, and feeling like I'm in control of the situation. Seems odd that someone like me would want a destination wedding, right? My fiancee has taught me to loosen up a little and take things as they come and just enjoy life as it happens. We fell in love with the idea of a destination wedding after our first trip to Cuba in April, 2013. It was our first time on a plane and out of the continent. We instantly feel in love with Cuba and visited again in December, 2013. Cuba's natural beauty, warm temperature, stunning beaches, and above all friendly people were all we needed to decide on a destination wedding. You may notice a lot of posts today and that's because between our engagement and today there have been a lot of developments. Once I found out about the blog function on this site I figured that I could use it to chronicle my wedding. I'm trying to go chronologically from the time we got engaged to today and then afterwards. I want my blog and my life to sound like a story. I'm hoping that maybe other brides can relate to my story and share their own stories too. Happy Reading! -Dia

Oh wow! She sounds awesome. Most of my guests are coming from Toronto I have one who may be coming from Montreal. I heard that 2015 prices will become available in January 2015. I thought about doing it through flight center or something like that.

Thanks everyone! I hope I haven't been a pain on the forum with my constant posting =p You all have given me really good advice and I've learned so much. So far we've already: picked a venue, picked a date, made a guest list, thought about who we want our attendants to be, figured out our colours for the wedding, and tried on dresses. I'm still in the process of making a budget which is why I wanted to know about the rates of travel agents. This week's been my reading week so I figured I should at least start doing some planning as I probably won't have a chance to do any more planning until the end of the summer. - Dia.

@@amarie4713 we're thinking of maybe having our at home reception after the holidays, probably in late February. It gives us time to hopefully get our wedding video and pictures. But most importantly it gives us enough time to save up for the AHR. Most of the brides on the thread seem to be doing it about 3 months after the actual wedding so I thought that we might do the same too.