kcole123

I stayed at Secrets St. James a couple of years ago. You and your guests will not be disappointed in this resort choice. Myself and my fiancé loved it.

Alberta bride getting married in Punta Cana at Melia Caribe Tropical. @@PuntaCanaBride14 Hi there I am from Newfoundland but currently living in Alberta. I moved here about 6 months ago. Although myself and fiancé are leaving from Edmonton, most of my guests will be leaving from Newfoundland. I am also getting married in Punta Cana, but not until April 2015. What resort are you getting married at?

Main reason for me: To keep it simple and reduce the number of guests. If I had to have it home, it probably would have been 100-200 people. This way it keeps it small.

Hi Britter08, I was thinking about aviator ray bans as well for my bridemaids. Did you order them online? @@britter08

I am having my reception on La Barcaza. I only heard about it through this forum and everyone is raving about it. I also went to other sites and there are a lot of positive reviews. Good Luck

I am in Wainwright, Alberta but majority of my guests will be coming from St. John's, Newfoundland because that's where me and my fiancé are from. we have a couple coming from Ontario as well.

I don't have my invites out yet but I did a rough tally of cost and right now I am looking at $15,000 that's with trip and I am also paying for my parents to attend. but I don't have the dress in that number either or anything accessories for myself. the majority of my cost is the trip for myself and fiancé and my parents. other than that It would be much lower than that.

oh ok perfect. I won't be purchasing any if they are providing them. Just as well to save costs where I can.

Congrats and enjoy

@@rednlovinit21 I am just doing the reception on the boat. I wanted to keep the decorations simple also. I was just planning on having tablecloths, centre pieces, and white lights (not sure if lighting is provided by the boat or not) I did get the quote from them but it doesn't say anything about plates or pricing. I just have a quote for the international open bar, the dj, and mixed grill. I am assuming they would provide the plates and cutlery anyway. but I wasn't 100% sure on that. I am having my ceremony at the garden gazebo at Melia Caribe tropical. I wanted the La Barcaza for the reception because I thought that would be different.

HI girls, @@jwalsh @@rednlovinit21 Stupid question here: but I was wondering if the boat supplied the tables and chairs and the cutlery and plates? I know that decorating it you would need to use a company and pay extra for that stuff but wasn't sure about the basics. I am going to be using Carribean Celebrations for the decorating.

Oh my that's sounds like me too. I tend to try losing weight and eating healthy and then it's all downhill in about a couple of weeks. it's like I can't last long at all eating healthy. it feels good for a short time and then I miss the "bad" food. I need help in this area too. I am looking to lose 20 pounds which doesn't seem like a lot but my god losing one pound to me is a struggle.

Hi, Yeah I am just sending out invites as well.

Welcome and have fun searching.

Congrats.

yeah the flight prices can be a little crazy. It seems like I have been searching and searching and finally I think I ended up getting a price as low as I can possibly get. So just last week I secured that as well. My Toronto guests are $1450 and St. John's guests are $1690 with taxes in. This is the lowest I have gotten yet. Everything else has been coming back in the $2000 range. I felt if I didn't book it while it is decent, then it would probably end up going up if I didn't get that price. Maybe it will go lower the longer I wait, I have no idea. but I didn't want to take a chance on it. Did you secure any travel prices yet? @@Make2dayAmazing

oooh so glad you brought that up. I actually was on the fence about getting an outside photographer and paying that $1000 fee but I didn't like the resort photos I have seen and they weren't giving you a whole lot for your money. Just this morning I decided I am going with the outside photographer and the one I picked was HDC. I sent my money to them and they confirmed my booking. I seen their pictures based from the reviews just solely on this site. The first time I looked at the photos' I think I pretty much had my mind set and was trying to justify that extra $1000 I had to pay for the fee. The guy who contacted me from HDC though said that we can waive that $1000 fee if we book the photographer for a 3 night stay. He said that it will most likely be cheaper than paying the $1000. So I am going to look into that as well. Either way I have him booked and will have to pay something extra above and beyond the package. At the resort, I selected the Melia Wedding Package mainly because we aren't having our reception at the hotel and we are going with it on La Barcaza instead. SO I didn't feel I needed any of the other packages. I have my wedding booked at 2pm and then the reception on the boat is at 5:00pm. I am hoping to book a cocktail hour in between though to fill in the time in between. I actually only put my deposit down on the resort last week and now everything else is seeming to flow along ever since. I had the co-ordinator contact me earlier about starting the plans at the resort. Other than what I mentioned I have no idea what else I am doing. I don't know any of the finer details yet. Everything is an add on and I am trying to keep the cost down as much as possible but every little thing you would like to have costs money. So usually how long before the wedding do you start planning the details of the actual wedding at the resort. I pretty much have the main things booked like wedding date for the resort, photography, and wedding reception. I just don't know the details of each yet. I figure I have a lot of the big stuff out of the way and I think I am doing good with timing considering it's just a little under a year away. @@Make2dayAmazing

@Mention HI, how are you doing with your wedding planning at Melia. You seem to be the only person other than myself getting married there in 2015. Have you decided on your reception location or anything yet? are you going with the resort photographer?

I just booked HDC photography for my wedding April 17, 2015. I am excited I have them booked. I am going with the Diamond Plus Package which I think is a good price for what you get. The only downfall though is the $1000 copyright fee I have to pay to the resort at Melia Caribe. Urgh. I was also told I could book a 3 night stay for the photography and it waives the $1000 fee which will most likely be cheaper. I am hoping it would be considering it kills me to pay the resort $1000 just to let the photography there to take the pictures for the day. Have any of you girls booked the 3 night stay in order to waive the $1000 photography fee. If so, how much would it roughly cost for the 3 night stay?

I have moved from Newfoundland to Alberta. My fiancé got posted with the military in Wainwright. It was a big move for me because I have never lived away before. I miss my family and friends and it's so expensive to fly out of Alberta to get to Newfoundland. But I am going home in a month for a visit which will be nice. It seems like my fiancé and I are able to save more money moving out West. Taxes are less, gas is cheaper, and even utility bills seem a little lower. It's awesome having that extra money with a wedding coming up next year. Wainwright isn't a bad spot to live but there isn't much to do there. So mostly I go out of town, if I can, on weekends to go shopping either in Lloydminster or Edmonton. Edmonton is only a 2 hour drive away which is nice. Hope you like it here. It's always hard moving to a new place where you don't know anyone and trying to make friends isn't always easy especially when you are in your 30's like me. I find I don't go out partying as much as I did and I have to drive 40 minutes to get to work everyday because I work outside of Wainwright. So the couple of friends I do have at work we don't hang out after work or weekends because they live out of town too. Hopefully you make out ok. I have to say I would never move out here by myself but it makes a world of difference when you and your fiancé make the move together.

@@tygrrlily really she responded to you already. that's awesome I figured she would have been gone home already that's why I didn't even message her. Maybe I should have. oh well I can wait until Monday. Yeah she don't disappoint. well she hasn't with me anyway. and yeah your fiancé is right, if need be then at least the Spring will give you plenty of time. I got an email from the resort today and they received my deposit. yay I am so relieved at this point because I have that secure and also the wedding boat secured for the reception. My wedding is April 17, 2015 so I am doing pretty good with timing I think. I am just waiting on Air Transat to get back to the travel agent with the contract and stuff. It's been a long 3 months narrowing down a resort and travel agent. but now I feel it's all worth it and all coming together quite nicely. Hopefully it stays that way.

yay got an email from the resort today and they got my deposit. I am soooo relieved. Now I have the wedding date secured at the resort and also for the reception. yay.

@@tygrrlily hopefully you find her as good as I do. Good luck and keep us posted.

@@tygrrlily what hotel are you going with?

I have a nice ways to go yet it seems. and it also seems I am commenting on everything.