Hola20162

Thanks this is what I was thinking too and leaning more towards

Hello KBReis I have been in your shoes. Our first trip together was DR. Our most memorable vacation was Mexican in MR. We have been to just about everywhere together, Bahamas, Barbados, Turks and Caicos, Curacao, Costa Rica, Brazil, Jamaica and Cuba. We liked aspects of each and there is no country we did not like. I think it all depends on what you like and what your guests will be willing to spend and if you want children at your wedding. We have travelled all over, off the beaten track, in all inclusive, in a treehouse in the rainforest, rented houses in foreign countries, we are cultured, open-minded. We have some friends who will not stay in all inclusive, some who hate Cuba as they "heard" the food is horrible and therefore will not go, some friends who said they will never go to Mexico as its too dangerous. Some friends who will never stay below a 5 star and others who will never stay above a 4 star. So what does one do? You chose a country that fits you not your guests. As my partner's family only speaks Portuguese and my family only speaks English this left Spanish speaking countries so our families can get by. Although I love my family spending a week with them on a resort, I would go crazy and would want to do a cultural day trip and my friends and family are cheap the most economical is Cuba. In addition, as I want to spend another week after the guests leave Cuba had numerous options on other cities to visit as I did not want to spend 2 weeks at the same resort. The other reason to be quite honest is growing up I never travelled, I never had a family vacation, my parents have never been on a plane and my brother 30+ years old has also never been on a plane. Cuba is the only country that is different than most, no Walmart, no McDonald's, it is one of the safest countries and if you go off the resort its an eye opener on the real life and culture. As my family is not cultured it will be my chance for me to show them why I love Cuba and why I love traveling to learn other cultures and languages. We are also organizing a day trip to Havana for our guests so they get to experience the beach and the culture. Once you have the country settled then how I did it was decided I wanted children at my wedding so eliminated adults only resorts. I wanted 4 star and up so this eliminated all resorts under 4 star. Then I did a spreadsheet [yes I am OCD but I am also a project manager/planner/ designer just not weddings but its transferable skills ] with the name of the resort, in order of the map from left to right, with columns rating on Trip Advisor, number of rooms, bungalows or elevators, location from airport/downtown, number of pools, restaurants, types of room categories such as Spa, Family, Suite, Junior Suite etc., what is included with the various categories, approx. price based on your approx wedding date, name of wedding coordinator, email of wedding coordinator. Then I narrowed it to 12, flew down had appointments in advance spent 4 hours at each resort over a course of a week and a half, saw the rooms, beach, wedding package, restaurant, gazebo, pictures of other weddings, what was included, not included, pictures of linens, colours, packages, etc. I had questions which I sent in advance for them to answer. I also arranged to meet hairdressers, entertainment, videographers, photographers interviewed them and it made my decision easier. I thought it would be difficult to narrow but once I met coordinators in person, saw the rooms, resort, it was easier than I thought. Not everyone can fly down in advance to do this but a lot of research can be done online it just takes a bit more time. Don't worry you will find a country and resort that meet your needs. Also it is important that the final decision is yours do not pick a place that you think your guests may like. Pick a resort that you like. As your close friends who you think for sure will not miss your wedding may not RVSP. The guests you think may not come actually will. I have friends who would never miss my wedding but are, I have guests who think anything more than $500 a week at a 5 star is too expensive as back in 2001 it was $500 and last minute and therefore that is all I should pay. You will have guests who are never plan ahead and do not want to RSVP by the deadline, they want to wing it last minute which means they will not be part of the wedding party guest package incentive and the probability is high it will be sold out of more expensive. So you will learn you cannot please everyone so it is best that you pick a place you both like. A few important questions is ceremony beach or not? Indoor or outdoor? Gazebo or no gazebo. Dinner inside or out? Dinner on Beach or no beach? Do you want strangers at your wedding or private ceremony? What most people do not know is that although it is all inclusive on the day of the wedding it is not for the bride and groom. You pay for appetizers, cocktail reception, servers, bartenders, per plate per person and its not cheap 60-90 CDN. If you want free then you have the choice of eating where all the other guests eat. So there are lots of questions you need to know and ask. DJ is till 9 p.m. if you want later you pay cash. Congrats and all the best in your search

Every time I go on vacation, I prefer an early flight this way you get to the tropical country by noon, check in, unpack and can enjoy the day. This however, also means you leave early on your departure date but you get home in time to unpack, laundry rested for work. Unfortunately for my wedding, I chose the most economical airline and as a result, the flight times leaving Toronto are 6 p.m. which means the guests arrive late. As this will be the first wedding for both of us and we only want to do this once:) we are having a legal wedding and we have to be in the country several business days before our guests. I was kind of upset at first as I wanted to be on the same flight as my guests but on the other hand, I get to relax a few days and get myself organized. Most of our guest arrive from North America on Saturday at 9:30 p.m. We are arranging for guests from Europe, South America and Asia to arrive a few days earlier as they will be in the air for a day or two and will arrive around the same day/time as us and will also stay several days longer. As we will not be on the same flight as my guests, we will not be in attendance to introduce everyone so most will not know each other. We have our separate work friends, we share different hobbies, our families are in different countries and neither of us live anywhere close to our relatives. Here is where I need your opinion: We will have a welcome cocktail for guests as they arrive but as guests will want to check in, unpack, get settled and are arriving late after 9 :30 p.m. should I have a welcome reception on the Saturday night or should I organize a Sunday brunch/lunch for everyone to meet each other? I am not sure if guest may be too tired or will want to relax. It is also a odd time as guests in Toronto will have to be at the airport 3 hours before the flight after 3 p.m. meals on the flight are not free and the arrive later which means dinner service is over by the time they arrive so they may be hungry. I am on the fence on what to do. Part of me thinks some may be excited and may want to mingle other may want to get a good night sleep and enjoy the day which brunch/lunch may be more appealing. Any thoughts? Thanks

I have been to two wedding dress stores but have not found "my dress" wondering where people have bought dresses and have been happy with store/alterations. I went to David's bad experience as they did not know what A line was. Sash and Bustle were nice and helpful but not a lot of selection. As for bridesmaids any idea where to go in Toronto? Did you buy your bridesmaids dresses or did they pay for them? As they are paying to come to the wedding worried about do you ask them to pay for dress to or not or pay half? Any reasonably priced places for bridesmaids one would recommend? Thanks

I am looking for a bunch of items, like the following: sanddollars chair ties/sashes aisle runner for the beach battery operated candles hourglass for sand ceremony starfish fans mini beach balls flipflops for guests other misc. items Not sure where to go Michael's Costco, Dollar store? Any other ideas? I want to stick to Canada vs ordering online and paying duty free, taxes, shipping etc. Thank you

I hear you about the stress. I was hospitalized for MS and paying for my partner's post graduate studies and many medical exams and we decided to post pone the wedding for a year until he was licensed my health was stable. So here we are or translation I am in full planning mode. I try to get his input but he says you pick I am fine with whatever you want. I was in the same boat as you in June 2016, I narrowed the country but no clue on the resort. As I had a toxic job at the time (love my new job) I needed a break so I took time by myself flew down and saw 12 resorts in 9 days, 4 hours each resort, met the wedding coodinators, saw the rooms-each category, saw the beach where there ceremony would be, the restaurants where dinner could be, the gym, spa, pools, took pictures asked questions, a lot of questions. Wrote a report after each 4 hour session. It was a lot of work but I did narrow by choice and I knew which resort I wanted before I left the country. One thing I learned too, we travel all over the world and are cultured, our family and friends are not. My own family has never been on a plane including my 35 year old brother so a destination wedding is foreign to them. They are also picky eater and somewhat narrow minded. Some guest have kids, some don't do you want kids at the wedding, do you want to exclude friends/family with kids, if no, chose a family friendly resort. In my case I am not a picky eater, neither is my future husband. Our family and friends on the other hand.....are picky and I do not want negativity at my wedding. I have learned you cannot please everyone and this is your day, your special day so you chose what place you want best that suits you and your partner. It not about the guests at the end of the day as you may be surprised who actually shows up at your wedding. Example two close friends who I thought for sure would be there and for sure would be in my party decided not to go even though we have been planning it together for 2 years. My spinning instructor at the gym and my colleague I go for coffee with said they would not miss it. So the ones you thought for sure would go may not so pick a resort what fits you best.We dont have kids but we picked family friendly so those with kids can come. I even went with the cheapest airline and guest are still complaining at the cost of $1295 for a week all inclusive 5 star resort so dont worry about price or what the guests may think. Hope my two cents helps.

I am getting married in November -destination wedding. So far the resort, entertainment, DJ, Videographer, Photographer, Travel agent, notary, wedding coordinator, exact ceremony location and dinner is booked. The invitations have gone out, guests have till February to RSVP. Only major thing left is the dress....not too important:) It is not as fun as the Say Yes to The Dress TV show makes it appear to be. I have not found my dress but only been to two stores. They say when you know you know but running out of time as they say it takes 8 months to order and alter. I am still not sure what the groom and groomsmen will be wearing. Once guests RSVP I will know how many are coming so I can being to plan tall he little details and decorations.

I am looking to buy new in Canada as I do not want to pay US Shipping, Handling, Duty Free. Not sure where to buy in Toronto area if anyone has any recommendations please let me know. Thank you

Videographer, photographer, entertainment, resort, notary, wedding coordinator and travel agent booked. Now having major issues on relaying the info to my guests need a reliable FREE website. @mention how did you do your website, what company did you go with and how much did it cost? We attempt to use WIX spent 2 months entering info, uploading pic and lost everything....someone then suggested Wordpress and did not have much luck either....so need help since everything is confirmed we just need to relay info to guests somehow.

I have horrible luck with everything so far. Starting out with finding a Wedding Destination Specialist, they all were horrible so now I am using the Flight Centre and my agent is not a Wedding Destination Specialist. So I went on this Forum 4 months ago under the name Hola 2016 but when i had issues one day logging in, I tried to reset my password it would not take so I contacted the site 1/2 dozen times with zero response. So I am two for two. Someone on this site recommended WIX for my wedding website...for 2 months I spent editing, after work, weekends, uploading pictures, doing it in 3 different languages....today I logged into WIX and lost everything nothing is there. 3 for 3. I am not having much luck with this wedding planning. As we have guests from all over the world coming to our destination wedding and they all speak one different languages. Instead of mailing our invitations we are going to do a wedding website entering all the details in all the languages for the guests. Here lies the problem. I have had bad luck WIX, I also had bad luck with this website too. Can anyone please recommend a good wedding websites for dummies as I am not very techy. Or can anyone recommend any other means to share information about the destination wedding to guests? Thanks