kcole123

@@TinkerSofi,

Yeah my in laws couldn't rave enough about the photo books. She says the pages are not flimsy at all and are of good quality. She loves the book and is very happy with the choice of pictures I put in there too and how I put it together. She isn't into the phones and taking pictures with phones and stuff or else I would have asked her to send me a picture. (I didn't get a chance to see it because rather than get it shipped to my address, I had it automatically shipped to her address.) There I didn't see it in person

I am in the process of making my mom's now. She also doesn't take pictures with her phone but my sister does..haha

Oh my god I love love love it. I have to do my parents now this weekend. I should do one for myself too.

Finally got my thank you cards from shutterfly. I ended up getting the matte cards. They don't look too bad. I probably should have went with the more glossy but oh well it's different. I am also going to be putting a group picture in with each card.

Here is the front of the card:

Here is the inside of the card:

And the back:

@ashhtay

you will appreciate the time just spent alone together. I don't think it will matter if you are at another resort or not. You will be busy during the week everyone else is there, it's going to be just nice to spend some alone time with your husband.

We are planning a honeymoon for next year (the year anniversary) and time to plan and save. I would have done the extra couple of days at the resort just to tie us over and enjoy some honeymoon before having to wait another year. But oh well I still had a great week.
I am glad you girls booked extra time. Honestly, you will be glad you did also.

@@ashhtayy

@@acw271011

I will def. post here for you girls to watch. I can't wait to get that video now. Nathan says to me "Kristy it's over, put the video down." Haha I think he's tired of me watching it for two days straight.

Married life is great. Nathan has pretty much been non stop with work though since we have been back. He is in the military and they are putting off some sort of exercise right now which means he is gone a lot. But I am hoping to plan a little weekend getaway somewhere when it's all over.

I only have one regret to speak of when it comes down to our wedding week in Dominican, and that is I wished we have booked a longer stay than everyone else. I wish we stayed at least 10 days or two weeks. The whole week I was there I was meeting with this one and that ine, trying to meet up with guests and it was hard because it was a large resort. A couple more days after would have been perfect. Just a heads up to you brides if you are questioning that part of the planning as well.

I have my video which I got two days ago and I must have watched it 10 times already. I would so recommend a video. I am so happy with that decision like so much. So top thing to spend money on is pictures and video, then dress if you have to hahaha

I haven't got the highlight video yet but as soon as I get that I will post it for you girls to have a look. Our video we have now is like 37 minutes long. Highlight video is best enough to post here haha

congrats again. You looked gorgeous.

Yay to yhe good ol Newfoundlanders hahaha had to put that in there.

Hope things are going better now with your bookings and TA

Loving your planning thread so far. I am glad you decided to start one sooner rather than later. Now you can put all your thoughts and ideas on your thread when you think if them.

I love your ring. It's gorgeous and totally my taste as well.

I can't wait to read more of your thread. Keep up the great work. And awesome to have that budget figures out. I didn't Hahaga I went a little over for sure. Wish I had soemthing like that when I started.

Congrats on your big day.

Very pretty photos and you look awesome girl.

Yay....safe travels to you.

Omg that is just the cutest thing. And of course now I have to look.

Start now I need another one to stalk and creep out. Hahaha

I started mine in January and my wedding was April but people start whenever they feel they want to mostly start organizing their planning.

Now that my planning is over I still love reading everyone else's.

@@ashhtayy she seems to be better for you so fingers crossed for you. Just keep an eye out like you are starting to do and you should be fine. Just double check things when she sends things to you to make sure it's all correct. You are going to be checking like crazy now..lol I seriously think she had too many clients when I booked so maybe that was her reasoning.

Oh dear god. Get ready for another laugh then @@acw271011 I always speak way to soon. Anyway I went to finalize my purchase with my groupon I got by entering in the voucher and it didn't work. It came up as invalid. So I tried to figure out why and here the one I made doesn't match the size of the groupon I ordered. And to make matters worse I did the project online and didn't download the program. Apparently if you download the program you can switch to a different size if you made a mistake but can't do that online apparently. So when I looked into the help section and they stated this, it then said I would have to start my project over if this is the case. Oh my and to think of the hours I spent on this one photo book. I have since a half hour ago, downloaded the software and here I am starting from scratch.

Must go get a glass of wine before I start over.

actually one down, two to go. Nathan just informs me that he would like one for his nan. Oh well keeping me busy still with wedding stuff...haha

Oh I love that hat. Unfortunately not very many hats I can pull off. But you rock them.

My god girl you must be getting so excited now, No wonder you are sleep deprived. I was the same way the week before we left. haha

@@ashhtayy

Thanks for touching base with me and also for your kind words. I am hoping you have a better experience with the travel agent. I believe she honestly knows her stuff and what she is doing it's just to me it seems like she doesn't know how to put it all together without confusing people. Sorry if this seems harsh. I don't know if she had a harder time with us because maybe she was taking on too many clients at that time. But when she was gone out of the Country, she did respond back to me pretty quickly but a couple of my guests said she didn't respond back to them at all. That's when I had to step in to email her and give her a head's up that people were emailing and maybe it was going to her junk mail. I had to be the proactive one and just keep on top of things. I didn't consider myself a bridezilla but I felt frustrated that I had to do a lot of the work a travel agent should have done.

That was something else I found. I found that whenever I addressed a problem or an issue and excuse quickly followed like her email wasn't working, her IT department needed to get the email fixed, the phone was out of order for the day. And she used these excuses with the guests too. Instead she should have let me know of any issues before I had a chance to address them. I just found that I had to keep on top of all the bookings and what was going on because if I didn't I would be in the blind from day one.

One thing that I noticed from the beginning was she said that once we book with her that she will have a link to a website that we would have access to, which I never did get. I did however get the email of a STD kind of email to send my guests.

I honestly didn't have just one guest complain but a couple people complain. One girl wanted to book 5 days only and she said she couldn't do that. Ok if this is the case than explain to the guest why, which she didn't do.

Sorry for being such a downer on this subject but I was actually the one taking up for her with my guests during the whole time just so I wouldn't make them worried or stressed over the whole thing. I know from my experience, If I plan on using a travel agent again, that I will start all over in my search.

Good luck to you and anything else you need let me know.

Kristy

@@TinkerSofi

Yeah I cut down the décor on the boat just so I could have the money for the extra hour on the boat, and I didn't even use that. I found it great the way it worked out. And a lot of the guests, except the older guests, went to the disco with us. So it actually still was a party just had to go somewhere else for it. lol

Yeah so I think you will be fine with the 4 hours but maybe you can decide that once you are there? That's what I did, I left it until we were on the boat rather than pay for the extra hour ahead of time.

you looked stunning as I thought you would be.  Great review too.

Oh yea Nathan gave the guys watches which they appreciated and loved. He also feels now he should get something else for his best man soemthing a little extra because he did so much for us when we were down there. He said he is going to pick him up something and send to him.

With the OOT bags, I handed them out at our welcome dinner which was the night after we arrived. Everyone loved them. I seen the bags throughout the week because some of the ladies forgot to bring their own. The biggest hit I have to say was the key card and tip holders. Everyone said it was an awesome idea especially for the pool. Everyone also thought the cups were useful and the lemonade packets were cute. I had people ask if I had extras just so they could bring a couple of them home with them. Luckily I had a few extras with me.

I forgot to mention about the bandage on my arm. Well two days into our trip and two days before the wedding, we went to the Buffett and I was reaching for French fries. I ended up burning my arm off the pan cover that was holding the fries. I had a pretty bad burn. Nathan thought it was a first degree burn. It was so red and just stung so bad. My mom, being a mom, had polysporin with Her so I nursed it with that in the monring, covered it with the band aid and then took the band aid off and cleaned it in the night to let it air out. Yup this was all painful. It bothered me a little having to wear a band aid on my arm the wedding day but I honestly disn't have a choice. The photographer asked actually if I was able to take it off and I said "believe me when I say it looks better on than off." The burn just looked so raw. Anyway it's getting much better now and starting to heal. I am so clumsy so something like this was bound to happen to me before the wedding. And come to think I went zipling before the wedding day also. Hahaha

yay I can't believe I am only seeing this now. You looked gorgeous my fellow April 17th bride. Congratulations to you and hubby and I can't wait to see more pictures.

I had three kids as guest all under the age of 4. So for each one I had a beach bag, sippy cup, beach ball, coloring book and crayons, and sunglasses. The coloring book and crayons I figured would be nice to help the kids whined down at the end of the day before going to bed.

ok so I am going to attempt the review once again. I may have to post a little at a time because I just don't want to have to keep doing it over again.

TRAVEL AGENT/BOOKING PROCESS

This I have to say has been the most stressful for me. From the time we put down our deposit until the time we left. My experience with my travel agent has been hit and miss and mostly misses. The only positive I can say about my travel agent was that she had gotten cheaper rates than others I have checked out before hand. A lot of my guests did nothing but complain about her the whole time. They had trouble trying to reach her, she was out of the country for a couple months so therefore she couldn't get back to people as she normally would. This I understood but my guests were frustrated especially when they were trying to put down a deposit or final payments.

There are a couple of examples I will explain to you with regard to troubles. I had three older ladies that wanted to share one room (three sisters) and we had a single guy guest. Anyway the travel agent had the brilliant idea of putting the single guy in with one of the older sisters, just on paper, so that the single guy would end up paying the double rate as apposed to the single. This would have been a great idea if the older lady didn't have problems with the room once she got on the resort. Because she was physically sharing a room with her two sisters, when she showed up there was everything there in two's just because on paper the resort had two in that room and not the three. Every time she called and requested a third towel or anything extra in the room she was given a hard time over it. They also tried to charge her when she signed out of the hotel when we left. They said because of the "extra's" they brought to the room, they had to charge her. Anyway, I don't know what happened but she ended up not paying extra.

Another example which I wasn't happy about, I had requested numerous times that I wanted to stay at the adult only section of the resort. This was one thing Nathan and I wanted just because originally we had wanted an adult only resort and changed that because of some family members wanted to bring kids. Well, two weeks before we left I found out that we weren't booked in the adult only section, but we were booked in the family suite on the family side of the resort. Like how could she mess that up? I called her and told her I wanted the adult only and she could tell I wasn't happy. Anyway they only had a couple rooms left in the adults only that we were able to get something. Luckily we were able to get the room we wanted in the adult only section.

So yeah my travel agent experience was not good at all and I will never use the company again (Centre Holidays in Ontario).  Like I said the only positive was the cheaper rates but honestly I think myself and my guests probably would have paid a couple hundred extra if we got a travel agent that was consistent and knew what they were at.

SUNGWING

So even though our group travelled with Air Transat, Nathan and I had to fly with Sunwing because we had to book air and land separate. Apparently, Air Transat didn't depart from Edmonton to Punta Cana between April 13 - April 20th and they only leave from St. John's, Newfoundland on so many dates. We didn't find Sunwing too bad going down at all. They had a overhead compartment specially for wedding dresses, they didn't weigh our carry-on's going down and even though we were a little over weight we weren't charged extra (I think we got an extra 10 kg or something for being bride and groom anyway).

Going back though we didn't get these perks...lol We were overweight in our carry on's so I emptied what I could into what I thought were lighter bags. We were still over weight on our carry on's and also on our luggage going back. Even though I left some things down there like bags, cups just to lighten the load. All and all we ended up having to pay an extra $300 US extra for our baggage going back just for being overweight.

MELIA CARIBE RESORT

This resort is amazing and beautiful. The grounds of the resort alone are perfection. Basically the reason why I chose this place in the first place, well that and it having and adult only section. The resort is huge thought although we had no problems getting around. There were golf carts and trains to pick you up all over the place. I didn't have any problems getting anywhere. The staff were super friendly, the food (well lets say I gained a couple pounds), the pools were clean, the rooms were immaculate. This was simply an excellent choice. We have guests that actually say they would like to go back there.

WEDDING AT MELIA CARIBE

Wow, Wow, and more Wow. We met with our coordinator, Geraldy a day after we arrived. This man knows his stuff and you can tell he has been at this for a long time and simply loves what he does. We met with him and just went over the stuff that we had requested in emails. He was so well organized and not a thing was missing that I had requested. He asked what my songs were for the bride walking down the isle, the bridesmaids, and also what song for me and Nathan walking out to. I told him I didn't have anything and that he can just use whatever. I honestly didn't care about this so much and figured the walks weren't going to be that long anyway to play a full song..hahah I just figured dum dum de dum and that would be it. Anyway, he said "girl you have got to have a song to walk to, I know exactly what I will play for you, and you're gonna cry." I said "but I don't want to cry. Well he played "1000 years" by Christina Perry in his office and I cried. I told him it was perfect. We had our first dance song actually was "thinking out loud" and you know the song that really sticks in my head for our wedding is 1000 years by Christina Perry. Funny because it was so random. Nathan also said it was perfect too as soon as Geraldy played it.

For the bridesmaids he picked "over the rainbow" by Israel Kamakawiwo. Nathan thought this song was cute for the girls. I also thought it was great. Then Geraldy picked our song for walking out and he picked "It's a beautiful day" by U2. We also said yes to this song. Weird how we just said yes to each one without even having to think about it. Geraldy was saying a couple times how laid back we were and how we didn't make him stressed at all...hahaha

We had our wedding at 2pm in the day and it was hot but to be honest I guess I just got used to the head and it didn't bother me all that much. I ended up getting the horse and carriage which me and my dad were in taking us to the ceremony. my mom and bridesmaids were in golf carts that we had arranged.

We had our cocktail hour right next to the Gazebo when the ceremony was over and everyone raved about the food we had there. Even thought cocktail hour was done at 4, Geraldy came over and told me they were bringing over more food and for me not to worry about it because it was my wedding. Us newfies likes our food. I thought this was so sweet of him.

I can't stop raving about Geraldy and everything he did for us. He even held an umbrella over my head as I was walking from my room to the horse and carriage just so I could be shaded. Now that's service.

We had Pastor Rick York for the ceremony and I have to say he was quite awesome. He was funny and everyone loved him. I would def. recommend him also. Like I said everyone of my guests was saying how great he was and that I made a good choice.

HAIR AND MAKEUP

I booked Krystie Ann for my hair and makeup and honestly this woman is so good at what she does. She is truly talented in both hair and makeup. She did myself and three of my bridesmaids and my mom. Everyone said that she did an amazing job and we couldn't stop looking at ourselves after the fact. One girl even said when she was going through my pictures she didn't recognize herself (in a good way). Krystie Ann came to my hotel at 7:30 that morning and left probably around 12 noon. I didn't feel like she rushed through each of us at all to get it done by a certain time. Each one of us girls felt like time was spent on us to make us look beautiful.

HDC Photography

I am so happy with my pictures and glad I have made the choice of going with HDC for my pictures and video. I haven't got my video yet but I can't imagine it being anything short of amazing. We had Milan take our pictures and he was honestly the best photographer I have ever dealt with. He has a passion for what he does and he doesn't even have to think of the next pose he just does it. Nathan was also very impressed with him (and you all know the troubles I had to convince him that someone other than our guests should be taking the pictures). We had Milan from 12:30 up until about 7pm. He also did our trash the dress photos for us two days later. Nathan says he made a friend because Milan added him to Facebook. He truly is remarkable at what he does and so glad HDC chose Milan for our pictures.

We had Elvis as our videographer and he was also so personable and patient. Nathan and I are camera shy especially knowing there is live video footage. So depending on if it's good or not I may have to post the highlight video on here fore you girls to see. Of course me saying if it's good or not is based solely on how we are looking in the video (mostly me) haha

LA BARCAZA WEDDING BOAT

So I booked La Barcaza based on a review from a past bride on this site actually. And man are we ever glad we booked our reception with them. We booked from 5-8 and I didn't end up extending like I thought I would. We thought maybe end it up at 8 and head back to the disco on the resort. The kids on the boat were getting a little cranky and it honestly didn't bother me not extending. I think if I had to extend I don't think an extra hour would have made a world of difference. Everyone honestly had a blast and said it was the best wedding they have been to.

Remember I was so franctic and stressed over centre pieces for the boat. Well I didn't use any after. I figured awwww no one will notice that and it's too much hassle having to give it to the boat guy or having to set it up ourselves. So all I had was the straws which had names on them for the place settings, had my cake on a separate table, signing book on a table and that was it. But when I walked on the boat I seen they had little centre pieces already there. They were just little glass pieces with star fish and sea shells. I thought that was cute.

But you know what, no one talked not once about centre pieces or the lack of décor instead everyone talked about the great company, music, and how they jumped into the natural swimming pool. I stressed at times over little things that in the end doesn't really matter. It's the company and the celebration around you that makes it the best wedding ever.

We had mixed grill for dinner on the boat and it was amazing, even though I didn't eat much. I was a little tipsy at the time dinner was coming around and I just wanted to get up and dance....lol

So overall girls Nathan and I (and I am sure a lot of our guests) had the best week ever. We were so happy with everything and how it turned out. The week just went by so fast and it's actually sad now that it's over. All the planning that we stress over and in one week we try to relax and just take it easy and then it's all over and no more big wedding planning. We are trying to plan a honey moon now for next year so we will have something to plan. We are thinking possibly Europe. We figure we will combine our honey moon with our one year anniversary.

Oh and Nathan won't admit it but I think he knows I made the best choice ever with the photography..lol

If any of you has any questions or need any help, even though I am not a bride anymore in the planning process, I am ever so glad to help any of you out.

I honestly couldn't have got through the planning, stress, and drama without this site. This site and the girls here have been so helpful to me and I am and will be forever grateful. I feel like it's not just a forum where I chat with people, but I honestly feel I have made friends along the way even though I have never met any of you. Again I thank you.

I hope I didn't miss anything, but if I did I will add it tomorrow.

For future brides on this site, please don't stress about the small things cause in the end they don't matter. It's easier said than done but if you keep this in mind it should make the planning process go smoother.