destination weddings

July 1st Can't Come Soon Enough!

2005-11-22T13:02:00.000-05:00

So at this point some of you may be wondering why I haven't consistently posted destination wedding planning information. Well, I was just like you all were in the beginning! I wanted to plan everything down to the last minute before I stepped on the plane to go to Mexico...but I can't! Destination weddings are all about relaxing and taking the stress out of wedding planning. Resort style destination weddings require little to no planning what-so-ever besides getting the attire for the occasion, booking the vacation, and paying for the vacation (worst part!). At first I was emailing the resort wedding coordinator, personally visiting my travel agent, and collecting wedding planning magazines. But, that is all a thing of the past!

Where am I in the process now? Well, this is my last semester at U of D, so I am trying to get through that first, before I jump into anything else. My wedding dress came in last week, so I am making arrangements for my first fitting! My plan is to have Jon's attire for the wedding by the end of January as well as our parents and siblings. We have about 1/4 of our trip paid for at this point, but need to make it through the holidays before we can even think about making another payment! Our flight is also booked and all of our families and extended families have booked the trip as well. We just have a few slacker friends that haven't done it yet, but anyone can book the trip up until 31 days before we leave through the travel agent, otherwise they are on their own! The only other things on my list from now until then are: making a CD for the wedding, making the homemade lei's for the bridal party, figuring out how to transport my dress to Mexico (I might just carry it on the plane with me), and continuing to plan and book the reception. Other than that, everything else will be decided with the wedding coordinator when we get to Mexico!

We are so excited to have the opportunity to vacation with our families in a beautiful country and have an intimate and relaxing wedding with everyone that we love! Thank you all for following me on my wedding planning journey and stay tuned, because I plan on posting as I continue to plan the reception as well as posting pictures of the wedding!

Vacation Insurance

2005-11-21T11:06:00.000-05:00

In the aftermath of all of the recent hurricanes, Jon and I re-thought our decision not to add vacation insurance. Our travel agent offered it to us when we first booked the vacation, but told us that we could add it anytime from now until 30 days before we leave for our trip. The hurricane's direct path hit Cancun and our resort in the Riviera Maya is about 40 miles away. Randomly both my travel agent and friend Catie who was married recently were vacationing in the Riviera Maya during that time. Catie managed to get a flight off of the island, but ironically my travel agent got stuck in Mexico for 5 extra days. Sometimes when you are in a foreign place, the confusion about getting a plane or early travel arrangements can become difficult. This is where the insurance part kicks in.
Both my travel agent and Catie bought insurance for their vacations. Although it will take each of them a while to get the money back, both of them ended up spending a fortune either way. Catie's early flight expenses, hotel cost, and rental car to get back home ended up totaling almost $2000. My travel agent also had to front the bill for staying at the resort a few extra days and changing her flight out. If neither of the two of them had the insurance, they would not be refunded for the full amount of their extra trip fees and problems.
Not only does vacation insurance cover problems such as this, but if something were to happen before we left for the trip we would be refunded the entire amount of the vacation, minus a $50 fee per person for travel agent expenses. The trip insurance also includes trip cancellations for things like medical problems, family illness/deaths, jury duty, and many other situations that may not allow for the trip to happen. You can look for travel insurance quotes for vacations, destination weddings, weekend getaways online or contact your travel agent to receive more information. Our insurance is only $59 per person and definitely worth the expense!
As for our resort, the Riviera Maya had some small structural damage such as fallen trees and broken windows, but all of the resorts in the area are up and running to full capacity again. By the time we get there at the end of June, the hurricane will be a thing of the past, and I will be sipping my margarita pool side!! Until next time...

The Engagement Part II

2005-11-19T14:50:00.000-05:00

I walked into my back door and my breath was taken away. It felt like I was in a romantic movie like Serendipity in the beginning scene when she walks into her front door and her house is covered in flowers. The wind from outside blew the white rose petals that were sprinkled throughout my house...as well as white candles that lit a pathway to my bedroom. I stopped for a moment to take it all in. Then thoughts began to run through my head like, "Is this for me or one of my roommates?" and "Hmm I could use a romantic evening, maybe I'll ask for a massage after my long hard week!", but the idea never crossed my mind that he would be proposing.

I followed the pathway of roses to my bedroom and opened the door. Jon was standing in my room dressed from head to toe in a jacket and a tie (he looked so cute...and nervous)! In the middle of my floor there were a dozen red roses in the center of small white tea lights that he had placed in the shape of a heart. He held my hand and our song began to play on the computer (Nora Jones, "Come Away With Me"). He asked my to dance with him and he kept holding onto me really tightly. Then he started telling me how much that he loved me and could never see himself spending his life with anyone but me. He got down on one knee and told me that I was his best friend and he wanted to marry me!

Of course I said "YES!!!" when I could stop crying my eyes out! Then we had a champagne toast and he told me that he went to my parents house a few days before that and asked for their permission to marry me. The night couldn't have ended more unexpectedly, or more perfectly than anything I could have ever imagined!

He has made me the happiest person in the entire world! It has almost been a year since we were engaged, but it honestly feels like just yesterday. It's funny how quickly time has flown by, but we are sooo ready to take this next step with one another. Only 7 more months to go!

The Engagement

2005-11-17T10:10:00.000-05:00

Since most of you commented that you would LOVE to hear about how I got engaged, I guess that I can remember it...haha! Honestly, there is not a single moment about it that I don't remember, and I think that probably goes for everyone who experiences this in their lives. It is so crazy how one day, and one moment can really change your life forever...here goes nothing!

December 2, 2004 was just another crazy day in my life as a full time student and manager at American Eagle. That morning I had a paper, a presentation, and an exam and I had been up all week long getting work done late at night. I was so exhausted and was dreading having to go to work after a full day of classes. When I finally got to work, there was so much that needed to be done. We were in the middle of a new floorset week as well as doing recalls for summer merchandise and a billion other things. On top of everything that had to be done, Jon kept calling the store and interrupting me about every half hour or so.

About the 4th time that he called, I almost yelled at him because he never called me that much when I was at work and I knew that I was going to see him that night when I got home. I told him, "I love you, but I have way too much stuff to do so goodbye!"...five minutes later he called me back just to say "I love you"...it really was cute, but come on!!!!! Haha!

It seemed like the night flew by with all of the work that I was doing, and I ended up getting out of the store a little bit early. I called Jon on my way home to tell him that I would be there in about a half an hour. He said that he wasn't going to be there when I got home because he was going out with his friends. Then on top of that he asked me to go pick him up some mints at the grocery store so he could have them when we went out that night. You can imagine what I said next..."Are you serious??" (just to put it nicely) After an extremely long day, the last thing I wanted to do was stop on my way home to pick him up some mints, but being the nice girlfriend that I was...guess who stopped at 7-Eleven on her way home????

Finally at about 10pm I arrived at my house. After I finally found a parking spot on the street (because of course I was leaving my driveway spot for him to park in!) I reached my unlit front porch to find that the front screen door was locked. You can just imagine how frustrated I was as I walked to the back of my house and put my key in the lock. Within seconds though, I forgot about my day, forgot about how tired I was, and my life was never the same again!

...stay tuned to find out how the story ends!

How we met...

2005-11-09T20:39:00.000-05:00

Now that you already know our life story, I thought you all might be interested in knowing "How we met"! First of all, Jon and I both graduated in 2001 from the same highschool, but barely knew one another. We had a few classes together, but were interested in different things during that time in our lives. The summer after my softmore year of college I was a lifeguard and also worked as a sales associate at American Eagle Outfitters. Jon and I were hired there on the same week, and have worked for the company ever since!
We were scheduled to work together one day and started talking to one another. He was so nice and definitely a hottie (I had been telling my friends about him for a few weeks after I first met him at the store)! During our shift I mentioned that we should maybe hang out sometime, and before he left he handed me his phone number. I called him that night to see if he wanted to go to a bar with me and my friends, and he said Yes!
After that night, we saw each other every day for the next 2 weeks. He brought me lunch all of the time and layed out at the pool with me in between the two jobs that he was working. Although I wasn't looking for a serious relationship, I had never met someone so caring and genuinely interested in me. After about a month or so, I finally decided to let down my guard and completely fell in love with him!
Throughout our relationship, he has taught me the importance of honesty, friendship, and kindness. He is not only the love of my life, but my best friend in the entire world! We are able to share everything with one another, which is what makes him so special. Now we are both full-time assistant managers at different American Eagle stores...and can you imagine how much in common we have to talk about??
So I think that fate brought us together, but my colleagues and associates think it was American Eagle. If I had to choose between getting married on a beautiful beach at a romantic resort (which is what I want to do) or walking down the the center aisle at American Eagle (which is what some people have suggested...haha)...I'm sticking to the "fate" scenario and choosing the beach!
Thanks for reading and if you liked this post I was going to write about the story of our engagement next time...let me know what you think!

"The Wedding Date"

2005-10-22T13:15:00.000-04:00

Somewhere in my crazy-hectic schedule, last week I found the time to rent The Wedding Date. This movie is about a woman who was engaged to a man in London, and when they broke up, she moved away from her family to the US. Now that her sister is getting married in London, and her ex-fiance is the best man, she has to do her best to impress her family. She decides to call an "escort service" and finds a man who will spend the week with her in London "pretending" to be her boyfriend. Of course they end up really liking each other, but there are so many hilarious and sad twist and turns along the way. This movie was one of the best "wedding" movies that I have seen in a long time. I absolutely LOVE Debra Messing and the wedding scene even gave me some great ideas for wedding decorations and flowers! I know this is a little different from my usual posts, but I really thought that everyone should hear about/see this movie when they get a chance! You can also visit the website for The Wedding Date . There you can find trailers for the movie, pictures, and an option to purchase the dvd!

Here is a little update on the wedding plans: I am meeting my parents on Sunday to have dinner at potential caterer for the reception. It is always best to try out the food and atmosphere of the place that is hosting or catering your reception to make sure that you 1) Like the food, 2) Like the service, and 3) Know what to expect at the reception. We have also been double checking with all of our guests to make sure that they have booked the trip and airfare as well. Now Jon and I are thinking about places to register for our wedding. If anyone has any good ideas, I would love to hear from you!

Last, but not least, I was talking to my friend Catie the other day who just got married last weekend! The wedding was beautiful, the ceremony was outdoors in a gazebo and the reception was in a huge white tent at the Brandywine Manor House. It was the most romantic and fun wedding that I have ever been to! We were talking about my reception and she asked if I was going to wear my wedding dress at the reception that we are having when we get home. I thought about it a couple of times, but I'm not sure if it is appropriate or not, but at the same time, I would love for the rest of my family and friends to see me in my dress. If everyone could also give their opinions about this, I would love your honesty and to hear your comments! Thanks and don't forget to rent The Wedding Date!

The Dress

2005-10-13T14:51:00.000-04:00

Since we were young girls, we have all dreamed about our fairy tale wedding dress. About 2 months ago, I joined my sister and mom in Towson, MD to find the dress of my dreams! We went dress shopping for an entire day in Baltimore and had a great time. I thought that trying on dresses would be a much simpler process than what it turned out to be. First of all, I am a size 6 or 8, and all of the dresses in most boutiques are a size 8, so almost everything that I tried on fit me perfectly. This made it difficult to determine whether I liked the dress because it was beautiful, or I liked the dress because it fit me well. At the same time, my sister was facing the exact opposite problem and having a hard time finding anything that she liked at all because she wears a size 2 and everything was hanging off of her! I ended up finding 2 dresses that I liked and 1 dress that I absolutely fell in love with, but it was extremely out of my price range. The wedding dress specialist took down my information and we left the boutiques and headed to David's Bridal.

I have heard such good things from most people about David's Bridal, but I have to say, after shopping at upscale boutiques all day, David's Bridal seemed like a Dress Barn to me. Looking at the racks of non-white dresses hanging in aisles seperated by sizes really turned me off. Then I was approached by women and men employees who smelled like cigarette smoke and were not helpful at all. After explaining the look that I was going for, they started showing me the exact opposite dresses that were big, sparkly, and poofy. To my suprise though, my sister was having a great time with a different dress specialist, she found the dress of her dreams and we left an hour later after she put down a deposit for her dress. This just goes to show how different people have totally different experiences when shopping for their wedding dresses.

About two weeks later, my mom and I decided to look around Delaware for wedding dresses. I had not shopped since the trip to Maryland and I was not sure how the day would turn out. I went to two different places in Delaware, and the Bridal Boutique in Milford was the last on my list. It was there that I found the wedding dress of my dreams...and at an affordable price! It is a beautiful ivory colored dress with a strapless, sweetheart neckline. The bottom is a mermaid cut and has about a 3 foot train in the back. It took me about 2 more weeks to finally decide that I should get the dress, so my mom and my soon to be mother-in-law went with me to get fitted for the dress and order it. It was so surreal to me that I was actually ordering my wedding dress! It takes about 6 months for the dress to come in and I am going to have 2 fittings before I leave for my wedding. I cannot wait until it comes in! The following are places that my be helpful in your search for a wedding dress:

www.edenbridals.com
www.bridalgowns.com
www.davidsbridal.com
www.brides.com

P.S. Here is a link to my dress...Jon don't even think about it! http://www.edenbridals.com/product_info.php?products_id=623

A Seperate Reception!

2005-10-11T22:50:00.000-04:00

Many couples who decide to have a destination wedding struggle with the fact that not everyone will be able to attend the wedding. That was something that we really had to think about before we decided to have the wedding in Mexico. We came up with the idea of having a reception after the wedding back in the US. That way we can include all of our friends and family and do some "traditional" wedding reception activities such as having a wedding cake, tossing the bouquet, and dancing to our song! We also thought it would be really neat to show a video of our actual wedding at the reception so that everyone can share our special day with us!

In keeping with the theme of our wedding, we are going to have a Carribean style casual reception somewhere local. We are inviting tons of friends and family and having it catered by a local traditional food vendor. We are now looking for a DJ and starting to think about the date that we would like to have the reception. I don't want to wait too long after the wedding, but we are also going to have a lot to do when we get home from our trip. I am hoping to have the party at the end of July. My roommate is going to help me make the invitations and I am planning on doing the decorations with a few of my friends and my sisters. We think it is such a great idea to get everyone together and have a fun and relaxing time after we get home!

Save The Date!

2005-10-03T22:49:00.000-04:00

Destination weddings can be a getaway for just the bride and groom, while others may include up to around 50 people. When we made the decision to have a destination wedding, we knew that we were going to include as many of our friends and family that could possibly afford to come. We spent a lot of time researching resorts and prices before we finally chose the Moon Palace.

After discussing wedding plans with our friends and family, we decided to send out informal invitations to everyone. We went to AC Moore and got really pretty paper with a beach scene in the background and colored envelopes that matched the paper. Then we bought magnet tape, card stock, clear sheets of sticker paper, ribbon and stamps. I printed out a letter to our friends and family announcing our wedding plans and revealing the details and prices of the wedding, as well as information to contact our travel agent. Then I made little flip flops out of the card stock and used matching ribbon to make the thongs for the flip flops. I printed out our names and the wedding date on the clear sticky paper and placed them in the middle of the flip flops for our "save the dates". Then I put a strip of magnet tape on the back of each one so our friends and family could use them as magnets for their refrigerator to remind them of our wedding! The total cost of our informal invitations and save the dates for all of our friends and family was $50. I really think we did a great job budgeting ourselves and all of our friends and family loved them!

We will continue to budget ourselves along the way, especially because we are planning on having a huge welcome home/reception party when we get back from the wedding. We have already decided that my roommate who is a visual communications major is making the invitations, which will save us a lot of money. Also, one of my friends from work is a wedding cake decorator and will be making our wedding cake for the party. She will be able to charge us a better rate for the cake than most other places in the area. When you start to plan a wedding, you realize how quickly everything starts to add up, and cutting costs along the way is always helpful in the end.

Exciting News!

2005-09-20T22:55:00.000-04:00

We booked our wedding and our honeymoon today (the new name for a wedding and a honeymoon destination wedding is known as a "weddingmoon")!!! After visiting numerous travel agencies in the area a few months ago, we finally found what we were looking for in a travel agent. We wanted someone who would was down to earth, honest, and would be willing to work with us to find the perfect wedding location at the most affordable price.

Donna at Windham Travel has been so awesome at helping us find exactly what we wanted for our special day. After giving us prices on well known resorts such as Sandals and Beaches, we realized that we were just paying for the name of the resort and not the perfect atmosphere that we were looking for. Donna saw the discouraging looks on our faces this summer, and decided to tell us about a place that she had visited the year before. The Palace Resorts in the Riviera Maya, Mexico are in a secluded beach location just south of the popular resorts in Cancun. These resorts offer all of the same amenities as Beaches or Sandals, but at a more affordable price. The package includes: meals, drinks, entertainment, motorized water sports, scuba diving, transportation to other resorts and activities, a free wedding package, and spa treatment for the wedding couple. You can read more about this awesome package and what is included in the wedding package as well if you visit their website www.palaceresorts.com

Anywhere from 2-4 people can stay in a room. Prices are based on occupants per room and the following are the prices for our trip (not including airfare) based on the dates that we have chosen: June 28-July 2, 2006.
**2 occupants: $712 per person
**3 occupants: $686 per person
**4 occupants: $650 per person
**children under the age of 17 $205 per child

Airfare can be booked at any time on an individual basis or through the travel agency at a group rate. There is a $150 down payment at the time of booking per person. The entire trip must be paid off by May 18th 2006, which is approximately 40 days before we leave.

We are so excited that the weddingmoon is finally official! I will keep you posted on more details about the trip as they come. My next post will discuss how I informed friends and family about our decision to have a destination wedding and the invitations, save the dates, and how to save money on the small stuff!!

Atmosphere and Budget

2005-09-14T22:13:00.000-04:00

Deciding on the perfect atmosphere for your wedding is one of the most important parts of the planning process. Both people should be completely happy with the setting for the wedding, or you will always wonder, "what if we..." Both my fiance (Jon) and I LOVE the beach. I love the sand, laying out, being barefoot, the waves, the sounds, everything about the beach is so peaceful and romantic to me. Since we are both from Delaware, our initial reaction was to have the wedding somewhere near/around Rehoboth Beach. After doing some research, we realized how expensive the wedding at the beach would be. There are ceremony costs, rental expenses for chairs, tents, etc, and all of the reception halls that are close to the beach are extremely expensive. Not to mention the cost for everyone to stay in hotels during a holiday weekend (we planned on getting married around July 4th) as well as traveling with crazy amounts of traffic. Our first guest list consisted of about 190 people, which included our friends, family, co-workers, and parents friends. After giving the list a lot of thought, we realized that most people probably would not be able to attend our beach wedding. That is when we decided that we really needed to think about what we wanted out of our wedding, including our budget and the perfect atmosphere.
After we heard about how easy, stress free, and inexpensive destination weddings actually were, we knew that was the right thing for us to do. Destination weddings at most resorts have all-inclusive wedding and honeymoon packages. You can also pay extra depending on how many guests are attending and how in-depth of a reception you want to have. Most packages include: a justice of the peace, wedding cake, flowers for the bride and groom, pictures, dinner reservations for the wedding couple, champagne, a beautiful setting of your choice, as well as a hair and makeup stylist for the bride on the day of the wedding. Other extra options include: a wedding coordinator, wedding video, full photo album, complete reception with dinner, music, etc., massages for the wedding couple, extra flowers for the bridal party, and many other things that the wedding couple would like to add. Destination weddings can be as simple as just the bride and groom having a simple exchanging of vows on the beach and as extravagant as a 50 person party and beach reception in a gazebo with white chairs, tropical flowers, a local band, food, and more!
We have invited almost 30 of our friends and family to join us for our destination wedding! I will explain in more detail about the resort we have chosen, the final prices, and all of the details of our wedding day in the next few postings. This is one of the best decisions that Jon and I have ever made and we cannot wait to share our special day in an intimate setting with everyone that we love!

Intro post

2005-09-01T14:21:00.000-04:00

For the past few months, my fiance and I have been planning our destination wedding. For those of you who are not familiar with the term "destination" wedding, it is a wedding that takes place away from the area in which one lives. With destination weddings, anything goes, from romance, to fairy tales, to beaches, and even old mansions or farmhouses, it is the new wedding craze of the decade!

This summer while I began to think of what church to have my wedding in, I could not keep thinking about wanting to get married outdoors. Ever since I was a little girl, I imagined myself having a romantic wedding on the beach or in a big open field with flowers and beautiful scenery. When I mentioned the idea to my fiance, he immediately got excited about it! We both decided that we wanted to get married on the beach and have a simple, but elegant wedding with our close friends and family.

Every step of planning this wedding has been so much fun for both of us. We have been so lucky to have the support of our friends and family along the way. The following are a list of things we have done up until this point. I will be describing each step in my future entries in greater detail along with listing websites that will be a help to those of you who may be interested in planning a destination wedding, or even a romantic getaway!

1. Choose the atmosphere and scenery that best fits you and your partners personalities.
2. Determine what type of budget you are looking for.
3. Contact/Visit local travel agencies to check prices and get information and booklets about places you are interested in going to.
4. Make sure you are aware of what is included in the trip (i.e. wedding package prices, all-inclusive prices, group rates, airfare, etc.).
5. Decide which place will be most suitable for you and your guests.
6. Contact those who will be joining you and let them know the dates, prices, etc. Also give them a specific date to RSVP by so that you can book the trip as far in advance as possible.

I hope you are going to enjoy following along with my wedding planning! I am so excited to have the wedding of my dreams and hope that I can give you all some great tips and ideas! The wedding date has been set for July 1, 2006!!!!!!!

Here is the first link that I started with!