I'm back

I have been working on our invitations as time is getting close and they need to be out very soon. It is said that the invitations should be sent to the invitees within three months of the wedding date. The end of this week would be three months for us. That is what I am shooting for. The invites will be in the mail by Friday.

We still have plenty to do but I feel confident that it will be all done on time.

Last night I was punching holes and tying ribbons. wow.. it was more work than what I had thought it would be.. but all in all I am enjoying that time.

I am expecting to get some labels today in the mail that I ordered last week to go on the seal of the pocket fold envelopes.

Wedding Cake

Having a destination wedding is more of a relaxed type of wedding. Not only because you will be going away and in many cases overseas, but what I am referring to now is the planning of it. It’s not necessary as much work as local weddings. Once you now what country, then narrow that down to the hotel / resort that you will be staying at, pretty much its easy sailing from there. Well it can be.
For instance, one of the things that doesn’t need much attention is the cake. Most hotels/resorts provide a wedding cake for the ceremony. Depending on how many guest you are bringing with you then you will have to pay for a bigger size cake than the one that they provide. But if you decide that the cake is just as important for the whole décor of wedding you may want to speak to the coordinator on site and ask what are your options. The hotel/resort might be able to make specific designs or there might be a local baker near the hotel/resort that you may make arrangements with.
But for the simple kind of couple you may just give the hotel/resort your wedding colors and have them coordinate the colors with the cake. Most give you a one tier and many times two tier cakes.
This will give it that touch to make it all go together.

Our Save the Date Magnet

Our Save the Date Cards turned out to be really cute and was inexpensive.

I was looking for something tropical to reflect the destination. Though I did find many nice ones and I liked the one of the sand that I published 2 days ago, I had a little poem that I wanted to put on the card and it was not going to fit.

I also was looking around at the idea of our photograph on the image but what I ended up doing was looking through my archives of vacation photos and found this picture of the beach with a coconut tree on the side that I actually took in the Dominican Republic.

Perfect I thought.

So, we decided to make them ourselves.

But it wasn’t easy. The image was not in its best condition to use as the background image on the card because certain places on the photograph were a little dark because of the shadow so the lettering that I wanted over it was not showing. I used Adobe Photoshop to assist me on this one. And it turned out great. I played around with the colors to use for the letters that would be over the image, the font size and font style. From there it was smooth sailing. We went to Staples and picked up a box of magnets. The magnets come pre-cut to size with a peel off back. Print the image on a glossy finish business card paper and stick that to the magnet.

If you enjoy arts and crafts it actually is fun to do. To finish up the product and give it that professional look, we purchased glassine envelope, magnet holder and linen envelope from Save the Date Magnet, all for $.25 each. What a great deal for that elegant touch.

Creative Impulse

I have been thinking about the set up at the ceremony and though I know that the hotel takes care of that, I have been thinking that I want to add my own touch to it.

Do you remember me saying that I was really not into the wedding planning and I wanted everything simple and just get married. That has gone out the window, because here I am getting more and more creative with it.

Once I put my hands on something I like to always give it my all. And I love glamour; it is a way of expressing beauty. This is my opportunity to express us.

This is why throughout my blogging I will be sharing with you ideas that I come across and I think are great, even if I am not necessarily using it in my wedding ceremony or wedding reception but you may like it and might want to incorporate it in your wedding plans.
So Stay Tuned…

Would you like a Martha Stewart Dream Wedding on the Today Show

How about that..

Martha Stewart and The "Today" show is having a Martha Stewart Wedding and you may be the lucky winner!!!

Heck I may be the lucky winner.
There are a few rules to play this game but it is totaly worth the try.

They are looking for a good personal story... of course they want the story.. the jucier the better...
A talented and creative couple will win the Dream Wedding desgined by Martha Stewart. They will pick four couples and then allow America to decide who should be the winning couple.

When I came across this, I thought....
of course of myself.. I will enter the challenge.....

but I also thought of you, my readers.. I don't think it should be kept a secret.. There is a chance for everyone.

I am all about spreading the love.
Good Luck to You!!!

Here is the link for a chance to Win a Dream Wedding, here you can read all the rules and regulations and fill out the application.
*Deadline is July 27th.

Save the Date Magnet

After much research, I really liked the idea of magnets for the save the date cards. I thought that this way people are able to post the cards on their refrigerator and they are more than likely to remember the wedding day.

I originally was going to get this one on the photograph above from Save the Date Magnet . I had a few questions for them when I was on my deciding stage and they got back to me promptly. For $2 they offer a save the date magnet card sample which arrived very quickly. It is packaged nicely in a glassine envelope which is a plastic that protects the image from getting scratched up, placed on a card holder to keep the magnet in place once you put it into the linen envelope. The overall product was of great quality and the image is a nice glossy photo finish.

Save the Date Cards

Save the Date Cards are very useful in allowing couples to know that the people most important to them would be aware of the day that they have chosen to tie the knot. This helps your guests to mark their calendars. They are especially great for destination weddings because it helps the guests prepare in advance for this significant date.
These cards are sent out months before, many times as early as the couples have made arrangements with the location where the venue would be held. These cards do not have much information on them besides the date and informing them that it will be a destination wedding. It is best when kept simple. It is nice when the image of the card is tied with what your theme would be, like seashells or palm trees. Many times it is too far in advance that you are yet not sure what the theme would be and if there would be a theme at all, in this case you may opt for a card with your photograph on it and maybe a calendar of the month of the event.

The Biggest Wedding Day Ever!

July 7, 2007

Playing with the Lucky 7

Today is the busiest day Las Vegas has ever seen. The hotels are hosting up to 3 times the normal wedding ceremonies for any given day. It is recorded as the busiest day for weddings in history, even greater than for the Millennium.

Many couples feel that adding the lucky seven to their occasion is the ultimate jackpot. Many couples showcased the number 7 in which ever way they can think of. I hear that Limousines with license plates with three 7’s were a hot commodity and even hotel rooms with 7 in it. This day is a hot wedding day all over the country.

Amongst the hotels and normal venues for weddings there are other public places that realized how popular this day was going to be and decided to host weddings as well. Amongst the many are Six Flags, Walmart Garden Centers, and Phoenix Zoo just to name a few. All 12 U.S. Six Flags are actually throwing a “Thrilled Ever After” celebration, featuring seven weddings at seven o’clock in the morning.

Well,
Congratulations to all the lucky seven marriages !!!!!!!

Let’s see what happens for next year with the number 8. I wonder if August 8, 2008 would get the same type of hype. In Chinese tradition the number eight is considered good luck.

Wedding Invitations

We have been working on our invitations, with 21 weeks to go we would like to have our invites out by next month the latest.

Traditionally, it is said that the invitations should be sent out about 2-3 months before the wedding day. Being that our wedding is a destination wedding, I would like our guest to receive the invites 3 months in advance. To allow them extra time to prepare. Another way to give your guests heads up of your destination wedding is through save the date cards. We sent out save the date cards earlier this year.
If you plan to have your invitations made with something fancy, like calligraphy or sending out for special paper, and they require extra time to make, it might be wise to plan ahead for this. Give yourself enough time to avoid any headaches. You may want to check with the print shop so that you may have the invitations ready by the time you would like them to go out.
You also need to keep in mind that you’ll need to get your response cards back in good enough time for the head count. This is useful for allowing you time to start labeling the place cards, know how your seating arrangements is going to be and counts for other things that you may want to take with you or need to know for the reception. Ideally people say to have at least 2 weeks in advance for the RSVP. We are going for 4 weeks in advance, because I would like the least amount of things to do as the day nears.

Gifts

It has been particularly fun with Janice on my side. She has helped me out so much in deciding what to do. She has given me so many great ideas that I plan to use for my wedding. I told her that I wanted to have gift baskets for my guest filled with little things that they might use during their vacation. She told me that she made envelopes for one of her customers that were used to place on the door knob of the guest rooms. They can be used to fill in with the program and other little cute things.

Weddings in the Movies

Do you like watching movies? How about digging through your collection of movies to see if there are any weddings integrated in them? I have found it very helpful to check out movies that include weddings that I can use some ideas to play around with for my planning. I have named a few to assist you.
The Wedding Crasher,

The Wedding Planner,

The Wedding Singer,

Runaway Bride,

My Best Friends Wedding,

My Big Fat Greek Wedding,

In and Out, That Old Feeling, my all time favorite The Best Man, Monster-in-law…

I can’t think of any more.
Can you think of any movie that I have missed with weddings in it?

What colors will we choose?

We have decided on a color scheme, though my fiancé is not to keen with the prime color he believes that I can make it work. At this point he is just going with the flow of things. I have a few favorite colors and brown is one of them. I love all hues of brown. I think it is such an elegant color that emits sophistication. We are going to be doing what Gil and Shirley did for their color scheme in choosing favorite colors. My fiancé loves the color cream or ivory, so we are going to combine the colors. I would like the girls to wear a brown sexy dress and the table linen to be in cream. I am also going to use gold tones. This color scheme would evoke tranquility, passion, elegance, richness. These tones set the stage for the type of personalities we have. We are very calm and cool, though sometime we defy it by being clowns and goofy. I want to use a little orange or like the pumpkin color to bring out some vibrant color to the scheme. According to the chart from yesterday this will give it the energy that we so are filled with.

Choosing Colors

The color scheme of a wedding is what identifies the day’s style. Colors come into play in the flowers, decorations, the bridesmaids’ dresses, invitations, table linens and even so the souvenirs, and scrapbook. You can think of what kind of mood you would like for your wedding for choosing the colors. For example, lively colors tend to give off excitement and drama; soft colors add a more romantic atmosphere. Or you may want to choose the color scheme depending on each of your favorite colors.

For example, my cousin Gil’s favorite color is cream and his wifes' Shirley's favorite color is pink. These two color combination makes up a very beautiful hue and so this was the color scheme for their wedding.

Others’ have chosen their colors according to the location that they are getting married or the time of year of their wedding. There are so many great options to choose from.

At Your Wedding Company web-site, I found a page that they show the following breakdown of color effects and what each of their psychological effect is. It is very interesting as to how the color scheme can affect a mood.
• RED - beauty, strength, passion, celebration and luck.

• BLUE - health, happiness, patience and creativity.

• YELLOW - intellect, friendship and cooperation.

• GREEN - fertility, nature, peace and harmony.

• PINK - love and friendship.

• ORANGE - energy and knowledge.

• PURPLE - royalty, mystery, spirituality and growth.

• WHITE - peace, protection, purity and fairness.

Your Wedding Company web-site is a great tool for planning. I included the following article for additional help in choosing your wedding colors. http://www.yourweddingcompany.com/templates/planning/dress_colors.php

The Excitement

Destination Weddings are a blast for planning and usually cost less than traditional weddings. Destination Weddings have become very popular which once was something that was done mostly by celebrities. It allows you to add that exotic twist to your wedding that is not as readily available the traditional style.
I have to say that I was never the type of girl growing up dreaming of a perfect wedding nor was there any thought on prince charming coming to my window and whisking me away. But I tell you what, when my man proposed to me I was melted away and the planning stages have become the dreamy stages for me. It has become so much fun for me, especially that we are doing it in the island.

Importance of a Wedding Planner

It has been a pleasure working with Janice. What she mainly helps me with is getting results with the resorts wedding coordinator. I originally thought that because all resorts have a coordinator on site to tend to your needs that I did not need to go to anyone outside of the resort to help me organize. But after two months of calling the hotel to speak with someone I realized I could use some help. What I was getting was either that the coordinator was never there or did not have a response for me and said she would get back to me but I never would hear from her again unless I would call back.

This is not to say that they are not professional and are not willing to help the couple out. But later on I realized that most of these resorts are conducting 2 to 3 weddings a day. I can now understand why they weren't able to get back to me as soon as I would have liked. With Janice it has worked out very well.

A wedding planner like Janice comes out very handy and usefull because this person is in contact with many of these resorts very frequently and these places know that if they treat the wedding planner right the wedding planner would more than likely bring more business to them. They are more attentive to them and ensure that they get back to them promptly. Janice has been able to get all my questions answered. And it turns out that she also has another bride conducting her wedding at the same location. What this means to me is that when it is my turn the resort would gladly through in extra perks to ensure continuous business with the outside wedding coordinator.

If you can manage a planner into your budget I tell you that it surely helps.

My Wedding Planner

I have been working closely with a destination wedding planner, and she has been amazing. All of our questions and concerns are handled immediately. I found her information in "Elegant Bride" Magazine.
Her name is Janice from Destination Wedding Store.

She is very professional.

She keeps a blog that I love because she is always providing ideas that can be used and incorporated into the wedding. Like the Tiffany Luggage tag and adding something special to your

flower bouquet.

Wedding 101

This day can be as special as you wish it to be. Go for it all if you can and don’t be afraid to express yourself. Whether you feel that you would like something small and intimate or something big and extravagant, make it yours. This is your day. The first thing in the planning is the date. Some people go for a date that is significant to them but you may want to work with a time of year that your guest is able to attend. Or you may be like me and it is all about me (I deserve it), so we went with a date that was significant to us. Someone may prefer a specific time of year, because they like the season. Whatever it is making it yours is all that is important.

Another important thing in the begining stages is announcing the wedding. How to break the news to the rest of the family and friends. This step may seem easy but I for one did not know how to handle it. I wasn’t sure what would be appropriate and one thing I knew was that I did not want to tell people over the phone one by one.
Since then I have actually learned of many things that can be done as an announcement.

What I did was create a power point presentation with sound effects to announce the engagement and emailed it to everyone. You can use the internet in many ways to make the communication to loved ones. You can send out a card via e-mail and have a party set up at a local lounge that you enjoy. You can send out a blast voice-mail to everyone where you are able to track who received the message. Check out the following article on Announcing Your Engagement Etiquette.

Wedding Requirements

It is necessary when hosting a destination wedding that you are informed with all the regulations and requirements needed for that country. Many countries require having a blood test done and others require a minimum stay in the country before the ceremony. It is important to contact the hotel of choice and inquire about this to avoid last minute delays and surprises.

Luckily for us the Dominican Republic has a company that works closely with the Dominican Consulate. WEDO helps couples from abroad officiate their marriage in the Dominican Republic making the marriage legal and valid worldwide. Eliminating the hassle of having to visit the consulate or city hall.

This was very important to me because I didn’t want to have to do this twice. As I have heard of couples going away, that the marriage certificate that they received was not valid when they returned to their country of origin. I also do not want any other date on my certificate other than the one that we chose to be that special day for us.

Punta Cana, Sunscape the Beach

The setting is like a wedding made in paradise. I can picture it already.
The wedding coordinator at Sunscape the Beach is Grisel Cordones.

They have a number of wedding packages to choose from including a complimentary package for those that reserve a honeymoon suite or higher category with a stay of 7 day minimum. The packages are very standard and is what you will find at most resorts, ranging from $600 to $1500 depending on what you are looking for. Many resorts offer extras to add to the package for additional fees. Like Photography, Music, Spa, Floral Arrangements, etc.

Sunscape the Beach in Punta Cana offers helicopter rides. I have seen others that offer a boat cruise. I think these are great ideas to include in the wedding program. For instance, after the ceremony you may want to have cocktails on a short boat cruise before dinner. Or you can serve dinner on the boat. Many things can be done and it is all upon the Resort having them to accommodate you.

Many times it is good to build a rapport with the coordinator because there are a lot of things that can be incorporated into the wedding that is outside of the resort and the people that work on the premise know what is around there.
See me again for my thoughts on wedding coordinators.

Which Resort Will It Be

Sunscape the Beach is the selection that I am going to go with.
It suits us because it is one of the resorts that are least crowded and in turn allows us more intimate time. It also has a kids club that would be great for our little one, my niece and any of the other children that might be attending.

This Resort is an Ocean Front Property with all inclusive amenities. They are known for outstanding scenery, hospitality and also its tranquility. This is a family resort which is what we needed but also has many adult only areas with childcare available on site.

Bridesmaids and Maid of Honor

In selecting the wedding party it is a little more difficult when selecting them for a destination wedding, because you never know who would really be able to make it. For myself I do not want a big wedding. We are going more for an intimate setting with close family and friends. In my case am going to select four. One bridesmaid and one Maid of Honor and one groomsman and one Best Man. For many in this situation I say just go with the flow and ask those dearest to you anyways. If they are not able to make it, make sure you let them know that it is okay if they turn down the offer. You do not want to be stuck thinking that you have it covered when in fact there is a huge probability that they will not go. This is another reason why I want a small wedding party. There will not be a lot of people that you would in turn have to depend on to have everything in place for the wedding. On that note, I found some neat ideas for asking the wedding party to be a part of your day. There are plenty of cute “Will you be my Bridesmaid/Maid of Honor?” Cards like this one that you can find at Classy Bride and other retailers. They even have a bridesmaid survival kit that I thought was a cute idea.

The Destination

I decided to go with Punta Cana. Neither of us have been there and that should make the wedding ceremony even that more special.

Well, as I mentioned yesterday Punta Cana has many selections and making it that more difficult for me to choose a location. My fiancé has left the entire decision making up to me. I am not sure if women would just say “that’s a man for you” but I do not mind at all. I just go to him and tell him what I have found and what the deals that I am negotiating are. I wouldn’t say that all men are like that though. My brother in-law was more involved in the happenings of the wedding than my sister, Strange Gal, some may say.

Only until about 2003 was Punta Cana recognized as a tourism area and for this reason many of the land is faultless and the beaches seem deserted with miles of silky white sands.

Excellence Punta Cana is a resort (photo on the left) that has colonial style architecture and is recognized as offering first class service. I looked into Paradisus Palma Real Resort (the photo on the bottom) and Barceló Bavaro Palace Resort which are also all inclusive. I spoke with many travel agents and they had said that many of their customers love these two resorts. I personally know someone that owns a few villas in the Barceló Bavaro Properties and he says that it is immaculate, people love it.

Where on the Island?

After having decided on the wedding day and location, the next thing up was to decide on the resort to have the wedding ceremony. I knew I wanted it at a resort rather than a hotel because of the added amenities and convenience for my guest. Most resorts in the Dominican Republic are all inclusive and therefore guest can arrive, relax and know that everything is going to be taken care for them. I keep in mind and understand that not many guest will be able to make it, but for those that can I want it to be perfect for them.
The Dominican Republic has many beautiful provinces to visit with gorgeous grounds. “La Romana” is one of those places in the world that has beautiful rich green fields, very lush. I was looking into Casa de Campo which is one of the world’s largest resorts and is also a top golfing destination.
The Saint Stanislaus Church would make the ceremony a picturesque fairytale wedding. Casa de Campo is one of those places that everyone should have a chance to visit in their lifetime.

Then there is the Province of Puerto Plata. We were there last summer and I would like to take him to a different part of the island. Though there are many beautiful resorts there to choose from. There is Breezes Puerto Plata Resort and Spa and Casino and Viva Wyndham Tangerine which is both great all inclusive resorts.

There is also the Region called Punta Cana which I had not visited yet located on the east coast of the island. There are many great selections of resorts on this side of the island. This is the part of the island that Donald Trump is currently building a resort. From what I have heard from natives and visitors is that Punta Cana is very stunning.

See me tomorrow for my decision.

Dominican Republic it is !!!

Dominican Republic is known for its remarkeable beaches and magnificent coastline.

It feels like a perfect choice for the location of our wedding.

Deciding on what date to have our wedding was pretty easy for us. It was either going to be on the date he proposed or on the date that we first got together as a couple. We decided to go with the date that we first got together as a couple. We had known each other for about 2 years and we very good friends before we realized that we had each others perfect partner right in front of us the whole time.

At this point we have 165 days to go.

Having our wedding overseas is going to be very special to us. For one we love to travel and this is just going to be one other reason to go away. The great thing about it is that it will be a vacation for all of our guests. Many times destination weddings keep some people from being able to attend but one thing that as a couple we kept in mind is that this is about us and we had to follow our heart on making this our special day.
The family is always going to be there to support you no matter what and they will always wish you the very best in the long run even if they cannot make it.
Make it Special for You and Follow Your Heart.
This is Your Day

Intro

Well, I have decided to put up a blog about the wedding plans. Thought that this might help any newly engaged couples on the planning process of their own wedding. As for me I like to dig for information and research things before going full on for something, so I know that whatever comes to mind I can share with you and it might help in your process.

My fiancé and I decided that we wanted to do something overseas. Being that he is Antiguan and I am Dominican we agreed that it would be in one of our native countries to give our wedding a symbolic location to tie the knot.
After much research I decided to go with the Dominican Republic because of its added convenience of being able to find a direct flight there oppose to Antigua where you have to fly into Puerto Rico first from some places. Also, many of the resort do not allow children and for others the number of guest that could stay at the same resort is limited. Dominican Republic seemed to be a better fit for us.

*Please visit often as I will be posting regularly what I have come about.