Early planning stages...

[FutureMrsHenry]

Hi Ladies. Let me first preface this by saying that I am not actually engaged at the moment, but I believe that it will happen soon (or at least I hope, lol). Anyway, I am a planner by nature, and I have been obsessed with planning a DW for the past few months. After researching different destinations, I think that I have decided on DR, more specifically Punta Cana. Maybe even Dreams, but not necessarily.

 

My main concern is financial. My boyfriend (soon to be fiance) and I are young (both 24). We have a 1 yr old. We both have pretty good jobs for our age, but after it is all said and done, there is not that much money left. We would be paying for our wedding by ourselves, with no assistance from anyone. Since I am so obsessed with planning the perfect (but more importantly economical) DW, can anyone offer any advice. I am familiar with Dreams' different packages. I'm not very into all of the extra add ons or certain details. For example, I'm not into all of the flowers and decor. I basically want an intimate wedding with probably 20-25 people, max. I want to start budgeting, and I would like a realistic idea of what to expect.

 

If anyone could provide any reputable travel agents, that would be great. I must also mention that I want to keep the costs as low as possible for my guests. Does anyone know if there are modest payment plans available? The wedding would be in 2009, in May at the earliest.

 

TIA

~FutureMrsHenry

[Yari]

Welcome to the forum!!

 

Check out the DR section! There are BDW TA's on here, PM one of them to help you out.

 

Happy planning.

[alex]

Hey there! Welcome to the forum!

I'm basically in the same situation as you are (no ring, same ages, & cost expectation for the DW!) I haven't really started planning yet, but I'm definately here for moral support for you!

[Agape Gems]

A lot of the RIU resorts offer free weddings- meaning you don't have to pay a per person fee for the reception which can save you A LOT of $$$. My FI and I paid for our wedding by ourselves (exception of my dress) and our total budget was only 6k, which included honeymoon and everything but my engagement ring. I went over that in the end when i decided to book a photog instead of using the one at the resort, but you can definitely have a nice affair without going into debt or breaking the bank. Check out the DIY threads too, there are lots of crafty girls on here with lots of ideas.

Happy planning!

[vale]

Ocean Blue also give you a free wedding but you have to pay for the civil ceremony/Judge which i think is around $750 (more or less), which is added in with price of packages from other hotels.

[twinkletoes]

First off, to the forum!

 

You can defitenly plan an intimate DW on a budget. But depending on your budget, you may have to sacrifice a few things.

 

From your post, it sounds like you are willing to do that. We too are paying for our wedding ourselves, and I had the same inital reservations as you. But this is something we both wanted so we made it work.

 

With all the help I have received on this forum, especially from the DIYselfers, it has helped saved $. And remember, it never hurts to try and negotiate!

 

Happy Planning

[happygilmore]

We are trying to do it on the cheap as well...You'll find a lot of ways here, do it yourself, cheap or free products...we just got our STD's for free (vistaprint), and plan on making our own invites after seeing ones here!!!

Good luck

[FutureMrsHenry]

Thank you so much for suggesting the DIY forum. I hadn't heard of it before. I'm sure that will be a tremendous help!

[foxytv]

Definitely DIY as far as invites, etc.

 

To keep costs down, the best advice or suggestion I can make is to not do any private functions at the resort. But that all depends on how set you are on a true reception. You can have a dinner for all the guests after the ceremony and as long as it's not 'private' (i.e. the restaurant can still seat other guests) you should incur no additional costs. Then, you could just have everyone meet at one of the bars for an informal reception. Of course, other guests would be able to have drinks there as well, but it's really the only way to keep costs down. Our reception is costing us over $3000 b/c it's private -- and that is for a 3-hour beach/buffet reception ... so it's easy for costs to add up fast.

 

I would also receommend doing the legal marriage paperwork before you leave b/c our 'symbolic' ceremony is costing us $400 as opposed to the $1000+ cost if we did the legal ceremony. No one will know the difference and we are going to celebrate our DW as our anniversary date.

 

Hope that helps...