Recently Engaged - Choosing a Destination!

[Moments That Matter]

Congrats mairelys! + welcome to this forum community I concur with mrsnova - the DR is beautiful and has lots of all inclusive resorts in Punta Cana.......all the best with your decision process and have an amazing wedding - wherever you may choose.......all the best!

[olive0y1]

Congrats!! I hope you find a destination that you both will love and enjoy. My FI and went to our first cruise trip for a friend's wedding last year and we just got engaged at that time too. From expriencing that, we both decided that it would be really fun to take a vacation w/ our family and friends for our wedding. It's a rarity to have that happen in one's lifetime so we thought, why not. We went to the Western Caribbean so we decided on the Eastern this time around. Once we decided on that, forums in here helped me find a coordinator and that's how my planning start. Best of luck!

Originally Posted by mairelys 

Hello everyone!

We are recently engaged and know that we want to do a destination wedding. The question now is, where?

The only stipulation we have is that we want to have it in a country we have no yet visited, so our choices exclude:
- Mexico
- Turks & Caicos
- Cuba
- Spain (although we're thinking we'll save Europe for the honeymoon anyway)

My question to you lovely ladies is, how did you decide where you wanted to go? Do you have any pointers at how to narrow down the choices?

Thanks for your help! I look forward to sharing ideas and gushing with all of you! 

Here's a visual:

[MrsBklovn]

Mairelys- we're in the same boat! lol. 

 

I got engaged last year December, but we were also having a baby so I decided to postpone any planning until after then. My FI and I wanted to go somewhere we've never been so we decided DR due to costs and the time of year we wanted to have the wedding. Luckily for us a few of our friends have visited some of the resorts we're considering and gave us great feedback... I was feeling overwhelmed on location... now its on the resorts in DR.

 

I think visiting a TA would be a great idea... i think I'm going to write a want/needs/con list to try to narrow down the resorts.

 

Good Luck!

[Lyman]

Congrats MrsBklovn - yes, you're right about the Dominican being a beautiful destination choice - and the local people are genuinely warm and friendly You'll have a great wedding - well done !

[GauchoSteph]

Hi Marielys!

 

The first step is usually the hardest!

BDW has compiled some quick rules-of-thumb for best weather seasonality, which might help you: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/a/when-is-the-best-time-of-year-to-get-married-in.

 

Good luck!

[mairelys]

HAha I was wondering! Although I'm at the point of considering Mexico just because I want to book somewhere, and can't find anything I like. 

[mairelys]

Wow we are no closer to choosing a place. I don't even know the country. I don't know how you guys decided. I'm just completely overwhelmed.

[Lyman]

hi mairleys ......don't want to add to your info overload, but here is a link to some helpful info on choosing a resort which may help........all the best with your research and relax, knowing it will all work out Great in the end.....it is after all, your special celebration -  when you and your finance will join lives for the rest of your incredible journey ahead.......Cheers + Enjoy

[GauchoSteph]

My suggestion is to make a Top 10 list : places you see yourself tying the knot without any external factors. From there, you can widdle down an option or two by thinking 'is this cost prohibitive for my guests?', 'would my elderly relatives realistically be able to attend?' ... hopefully that can lead you to a shorter list to work with.

 

Best wishes!

[cherany]

Originally Posted by mairelys 

 

Wow we are no closer to choosing a place. I don't even know the country. I don't know how you guys decided. I'm just completely overwhelmed.

 

Hi, mairelys! I felt that way at first, too; I think most of us did. I started with no idea which country to choose and just started by considering various places in/around the Caribbean, since there seemed to be more info regarding that area. Still, it felt like I was just browsing the web with little direction for a while. At some point, I figured out looking through wedding slideshows was more helpful in many ways, because I wasn't just looking at hotel info geared towards everyday vacationers. It really helps to see what a wedding can look like at a particular venue or in a particular region.

 

This might sound unconventional, but one thing that really pulled us towards the area we decided on and took us from dreaming of "a wedding abroad somewhere" to "a wedding in Riveria Maya, Mexico" was discovering del Sol Photography's blog:

http://delsolphotography.com/blog/

 

Not only did we fall in love with their work to the point of wanting our wedding anywhere they would be, we were able to check out venues through the eyes of a wedding guest with their photos. They have a ton of slideshows posted on the forum, which I think are super helpful when considering the Riviera Maya:

 

http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/a/del-sol-photography-slideshows-riviera-maya

 

You mentioned wanting to go somewhere you've never been, but as a bride who has never been to the country her wedding is in, I can tell you that adds some stress to the planning process. If you think about how many things you learn about a place when you vacation somewhere, that knowledge is really helpful when planning such a major event and when giving info to your guests. I've found myself wishing I had firsthand knowledge of our location.

 

You can always pick somewhere completely new to you both for your honeymoon, when it'll be easier to roll with things, versus it being your wedding day when you need everything to go smoothly. Good luck narrowing the choices!