Before you read ahead make sure that you have completed all the Dominican Republic wedding requirements.

Here is the stuff that you just cannot miss if you are getting married in the Dominican Republic

Beach wedding dress

Beach bridal shoes

Seashells and Starfish and sand dollars – there are many varieties of these so make sure that you add the correct ones to the kitty

Wedding cake

Bridal bouquet

Groom buttonhole

Bamboo wedding arch

Carpet

Floral Decorations – Order beforehand and you can get some good silk tropical flowers for less.

For a quiet wedding in the Dominican Republic you can just use the guide which I have here for the beach weddings for putting together everything.

Wedding tradition in the Dominican republic

However if you are looking for wedding tradition in the Dominican republic then you can use a few tips here and these are

It is customary to sing the wedding songs as opposed just playing the instruments. So make sure that your wedding planner arranges for the same.

Coins exchange is a must too and that means that ten cent coins will be carried by a small boy who will give it to the priest and he will in turn give to the groom and he will in turn give it to the bride. The basic essence of this is that it signifies that the groom will provide for everything for the bride. Remember it is a traditional thing.

Apart form this there are no special wedding decorations apart from the general beach decorations and favors like the seashells, star fish, sand dollars and all items related to beach.

However the other thing that you can do is see what you can get locally from the Dominican Republic and use that for decorations like

Dominican larimar – It is nice thing to wear for the bride so that she looks more traditional.

Another one similarly is the Dominican Amber – which again is the traditional strone available in the Dominican Republic.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Here are a few things that most of the wedding packages available in the Dominican Republic resorts have

• Services of a personal wedding coordinator
• A wedding ceremony arranged with the justice of peace or a priest present
• Marriage certificate preparation
• The Wedding area decoration
• Wedding night room decoration
• Witnesses are provided at extra cost
• Flower bouquets for the bride
• Boutonnieres for the groom

For the wedding the main persons are the bride and the groom and to pamper them the hotels will generally include in the package the following things are generally there for the destination wedding in Dominican Republic and these are

• A special wedding gift fro the bride and the groom
• Pedicure and manicure fro the bride and the groom
• Special massages which are generally one hour massages
• A customized and your choice wedding cake
• A special dinner for two at a very romantic place
• Champagne
• A special honeymoon breakfast in bed
• Other activities

A lot of hotels include the golf reservation and these include the green fee, golf cart and golf clubs.

Tip : If you see the list above the wedding photographer as the video person is not there and generally the wedding packages in Dominican republic will strive to provide the photographers but at an extra cost. This is a must as you do not want to run around finding a wedding photographer at the last minute.

Cost

The wedding package will generally cost about $1000 US dollars and in some cases the $400 – $500 is an extra charge.

Things generally not included in the wedding package for the Dominican Republic wedding are

• Private bar
• Private Buffet
• Wedding photographer
• Extra Flowers
• Hairdresser
• Music
• Bamboo wedding arch

Apart form these packages which are the standard packages you can go in for elite packages or special VIP treatment packages and that will mean extra cost and the cost can be in the range of $2500 US dollars but it will include quite a lot of things which generally are not there in the standard packages.

Deluxe chairs for the bride and the groom

Special chairs for all the guests up to 25 people

Wine for each guest and is generally limited to only one glass and many more things

Tip : Be prepared for the judge showing up late and that can be something like two to tree hours late .

Make surer that you have planned everything down to the dinner and the bar things. The resorts in a lot of places are notorious for goofing up things at the last minute

If your wedding is just about at the sunset then get the pictures taken rather than waiting for the judge to appear as they generally run late or go next day for the photos to be taken.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Why Dominican Republic – The Dominican Republic is and ideal place for a beach wedding with beautiful beaches and salt water lakes. This Caribbean island is one of the best places in the whole of the Caribbean island to have a wedding.

Best time for the Wedding in Dominican Republic

Tip: The place in the summer is full of carnivals and special festivals that the festivities are there for the asking almost all the year around

The best time for the travel is between November and April. The other times namely between April and June and beyond have rains and storms and those will not be good for your wedding planning.

Places in Dominican Republic for the wedding

Avoid the Santo Domingo and go for something more exotic

Almost all the people have heard about Santo Domingo but the fact is that the best place to get married in the Dominican Republic will be there in the country side which has some of the best Spanish influenced villages.

Best Places – Casa De Campo, Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, La Romana, Samana, Santiago

Punta Cana – This is the far eastern place in Dominican Republic in the island of Hispaniola. The area is about 1100 acres and these are full of white sandy beaches and have wonderful scenery. This place is ideal for a nice wedding getaway.

Wedding packages Dominican Republic – I have listed quite a few details as far as the wedding packages are concerned but generally the packages are offered by all resorts and hotels. Please read the reviews of the resorts before signing on with a particular package. Also make sure that you have read what are the things that are included in the package and what things are not included because if the fact that there are so many things which will be offered to you will be charged extra like the wedding photographer and the video shoot.

Dominican Republic Wedding requirements – I have listed all the main wedding things that you will require for the wedding as far as the legal requirements and paper work goes.

Wedding planner Dominican Republic – For the destination wedding the main thing is that you get all things correctly planned so that you are not left stranded at the beach at the last minute scrambling and scurrying for things at the eleventh hour.

For the Dominican Republic wedding make sure that you either get and all inclusive package deal which means the hotel or the resort will do everything for the wedding and will even arrange a wedding coordinator.

Generally the best thing to do is to find a good wedding planner by yourself who will work in your best interests rather than for the resort or the hotel.

Before leaving the US even you can talk to wedding planner and get all things in proper condition and planned for a nice destination wedding in the Dominican Republic

Other activities that you can do after the wedding together are

Windsurfing

Snorkeling

Scuba Diving

Fishing

Dominican Republic may be the best one out there which are also equally good if not better and these are majorly the Caribbean islands and the names are

Anguilla

Antigua

Bahamas

Barbados

Cayman Islands

Jamaica

St. John

St. Lucia

As far as beach weddings are concerned Mexico offers are great deal of places which are perfect for destination weddings

Acapulco

Riviera Maya

Punta Mita

Cancun

In all the destination wedding Dominican Republic can be a very good thing as far as beach weddings go and there can be nothing wrong with your choice of this Caribbean Island

Photo Credit : pxg.Jacob

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Apart from the so many other things that you will need to do for the decorations like centerpieces and the favors this is one thing that can actually be the most important part of the wedding theme.

Most the beach themed weddings have the planners who will be able to make sure that you get the cake which you so badly want. You can check with wedding planners and ask for the different wedding cakes designs to be emailed to you or you can suggest a design yourself to the cake caterer.

Make sure that you tell the color of the cake as that is very important and it should integrate well with the theme. primarily your dress should derive the color and then the cake can either be a contrast color or the same color.

The seashell cake is generally made out of brown or the white chocolate and the main aim is to have the decorations on top of it which are edible like the seashells made out chocolate

there cane be other decorations on the seashell wedding cake like the blue shell accents or special piping. the cake can have coral clusters or the pearls along with to have that special beach effect. Do not overdo the decoration and the most important thing the seashells should be prominently appearing on the seashell wedding cake.

The table on which the wedding cake will be kept make sure that table has the variety of silk and dried wedding corals and flowers which will give a rich effect to the wedding cake.

The most common design of a seashell cake is the lighthouse seashell cake with a special lighthouse on the top.

Another one is the blue bows on the cake which look very elegant

here are some of the pictures from the seashell wedding cake.

Credit photo by manassas

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Even though you will have to have the extra effort in terms choosing the dress as well as the color for the decorations and then other things like the venue, the accommodations for the guests etc. nothing can do you more harm than the improper  beach wedding decorations.

The decorations that you do think for the beach wedding should be of course based on what you find at the beach and that means a few things

Most importantly the seashells, nets, pearls and star fish.

In fact nowadays the starfish is the main theme of a lot of weddings but let is stick to the seashell decorations as well as theme

Where all can you use the seashells

• well practically anywhere you want to but it here are a few main ideas
• centerpieces – I will explain more on these
• wedding cakes
• favors
• cake toppers
• wedding invitations
• wedding bouquet
• guest book
• even the wedding ring
• table decorations
• You can use a lot of seashells in your wedding dress itself
• place cards
• seashell tiaras is another thing that can actually look very good on you if the whole theme is about the seashells.

Accents with the Seashell theme

Use of accents with the seashell theme is very important and there a few things that you can use with the seashells like the

Dried corals, these can be made of silk too

Dried flowers or silk flowers

Aquatic piping

For the centerpieces you need to make sure that you either hand painted small pots in which you can fill the seashells along with dried corals.

The other way to do is to have a glass vase filled with seashells and some marbles in it . make sure to add a candle or special aquatic grass in the middles of the vase as the empty vase will not give a good effect. The candle in the center is a very good idea because the light from the candle will reflect very and it will be a visual treat

As far as favors are concerned the seashell is the best thing that can be given as  a decorative things. You can give paperweights which are seashell shaped or the small vases which seashell shaped.

The other thing can be small transparent boxes filled with painted seashells and it will also look good.

Credits photo by amanda

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Multiple Colors – If you want to go with blue colors then use the various hues of blue to get a good effect as in the violet or the periwinkle so that the same blue color decorations do not look boring.

An important for those who are for tips for planning a beach wedding decorations then do not do the blue color but instead choose a blue and a ivory theme as the beach wedding are much more festive in nature.

The best Theme for blue is the Tiffany blue Color. This is very classic and very elegant blue color and much better than a royal blue color. This Tiffany blue is the best when you have to have centerpieces, candles and other decorative items as well as having the Blue ribbons for almost anything you have on the decoration list.

Another very good combination with blue reception decoration is light yellow and also you will get so many various flowers in light yellow be it rose or silk flowers.

For chairs the best bet is to go with the blue sashes. As far as the blue color decoration go in terms on the table decoration you nee to make sure that the blue flowers are there along with a smattering of cream or white roses. Blue and white are the ideal combination.

The Blue wedding flowers can be the Hyacinths, Hydrangea, Delphiniums, Statice and Sea Holly.

Flower vases and Table decorations

The flower vases can be draped in blue organza or you can have special blue ribbons tied on the vases. You can use these blue ribbons to tie the favors.

On the tables you can also use the blue napkin rings as well as blue napkins. But I think the best is white or cream napkins with blue napkin rings.

Another decoration is that you can use fish bowls filled with blue pebbles. Use Satin ribbons for a lot of things that you need to tie.

Use the blue border in the numbering card on the table for that added effect. Then for added effect you can use the silk rose petals in blue color for sprinkling it on the table.

As favors also you can use the transparent jar which has blue colored jelly bins as special gift and tie it with a ribbon which is of a different hue than the blue color of the jelly beans.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Here are my few tips for the beach wedding dresses and I hope these will help you get that perfect look which is ideal for a beach wedding

1. 1. Beach wedding dresses for Bride

The style for the beach wedding dresses is always casual. But wait before you start thinking casual means just a normal track pant and a nice Tee then that is not the the type of casual I am talking. This is casual in the sense that much more casual than the dress that you would normally wear if you wedding was in a church.

The style has to have a few things which define the atmosphere at the beach wedding and the definition is

It has to be cool

It has to be breezy

It has to look romantic

It has to look less formal or “informal” yet stylish and sensual as opposed to downright sexy.

Types of dresses that you could wear



Photo by Hare Guizer

A long gown preferably strapless or the spaghetti straps . Try for a good designer like the Badgley Mischka or Dessy. Get it short or tea lenght for showing your legs and in the beach wedding it is normal.

A halter neck will also do

The color white preferably.

The cloth can be chiffon, georgette, organza or linen.

The Beach Wedding Accessories

Necklace Go for a simple pearl necklace with a small diamond or a stone pendant

Footwear As far as footwear is concerned no heels but just flip flops or casual sandals.

Hairstyle A simple pinup with flowing hair is the best. It signifies informal and definitely gels well with the casual beach wedding dresses.Add flowers on the pinup.

Important : The time of the day you are getting wedded at the beach as well as the season will influence the dress. If you are getting married near the sunset time and it gets chilly in the weather you are getting married then make sure to get a dress which is covered or get a special shawl style cover up which can hold you through the entire wedding.

This is strictly not a wedding reception decoration ideas post but I wanted to mention this as everything goes with the wedding style even the wedding dresses.

2.   Beach Wedding Dresses for Groom

The style should be the same for the groom as well as the bride a classy casual with the a shirt which is line or silk or the classy and trendy cotton.

The most common things to care of

Suit should not be wear even if the wedding is in a beach resort hotel and not on the sand itself. If you have to wear a suit then wear the cotton or line suit.

The color of the shirt can be beach pastel or white or light cream

If it is Hawaii then go for the Aloha shirts with floral prints. There are other options like the Mexican shirts called Guayabera shirts. These look very cool and classy with short sleeves.

The Beach Wedding Accessories

Footwear Go for the simple loafers or sandals and no dress shoes even with the suits it is preferable to wear the loafers than the dress shoes.

3.   Beach Wedding Dresses for Bridesmaid

The bridesmaid dresses have to be also cool and casual and no formals. The color for the bridesmaid can be a challenge so best are the rust color or light peach or the white with ivory tinge.

The bridesmaid can wear the gloves as accessories but usually should be avoided if it is not a sunset variety. Make sure that the bridesmaid dresses are a bit different than the brides. With beach wedding that can be tough but achievable.

If the wedding is inside in a beach resort hotel then make sure then definitely the bridesmaid can wear the gloves.

Also light jewelry is acceptable like small silver wrist bands as well as light sliver anklets. These will in fact give an added touch to the bridesmaid overall get up.Some antique collecting jewelry will also do if you are wearing something vintage. You can find cheap wedding dresses available all over the internet online.

Important Tip – Make sure that you carry the moisturizer as well as other lotions because of the sun and the air it can become quite dry. Extra care should be taken if there is wind blowing as that would mean special care for the hair.

Have a wonderful wedding

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Destination weddings – An Introduction

More and more couples are planning to move outwards when it comes to their wedding. The most common way to do that is that you think of any outdoor location and get married there.

That outdoors does not have to your own backyard and it can be a different city or a different country for example India or Mexico. If you are selecting a particular city or a place then definitely it is known as the destination wedding.

Destination weddings are not easy to plan as invariably you have not been to the place and also you do not know what kind of arrangements will be needed for having a wedding in a new city or a country. It is here the wedding planners enter the picture. Believe me they are worth the money :- )

Are Really Beach Weddings For You?

Once you have decided that you need to have a destination wedding then the next big thing to be decided is what kind of destination are you interested in.

The most favored one are the Las Vegas wedding which are always in vogue nowadays. Next are the absolute outdoors in the sand and those are the beach weddings.

Do not just say OK to a beach wedding but think hard as a couple would you be able to able first of all afford a beach wedding and also if you are Ok with sand and water and air to be blowing when are exchanging your vows. The whole thing can be totally out of sorts for you if you are not prepared for it.

Beach Weddings

Photogragh by justjennifer

You may love the idea of a beach wedding but when it comes to reality things may be really different. So think and say yes to a beach wedding. There are other outdoor weddings also available like the wedding on a mountaineous area like the wedding in a European destination. A good example of that is Switzerland. I will come to those destinations in my next few posts but I will stick to everything you need to know about beach weddings. That way you will be able to decide whether you need the beach wedding destination or not.

Step By Step Planning For a Beach Wedding

In this post of mine I am going to detail each and everything including the questions you need to ask yourself regarding the beach wedding. Beach weddings can be arranged for a small group of people or for a large group of people the only difference being the set up of the decoration as well as the cost

Finalize a Beach wedding destination

This is the most important or rather the basis of a successful beach wedding. You need to pick a destination which is affordable or rather based on your cost. You need to make sure that you know the number of guests that will be arriving for the beach wedding ceremony as well as for the beach wedding reception.

If you have large number of guests coming for the beach wedding then a private resort or a beach side hotel with a nice lake or private beach will be perfect.

Get views from people and also look for weather

Whenever you are getting to finalize a destination then make sure that you have actually talked to a few wedding planners and also your friends or acquaintances that have been to a beach wedding. They can tell what beach was better or what they know about a particular location.

Also make sure that you check the weather forecast as that may strike out a few beaches out of your shortlisted candidates.

The beach destination also will be based on the fact that majority of guests are coming form which place. It may so happen that all your guests stay near a particular beach area or town whereas you are the only one who will be coming from far or vice versa.

The most common beach wedding destinations within the country are

The most favored destination is Florida beach weddings and some of the locations for in Florida are

Miami

Ft.Lauderdale

Tampa Bay

Key West

Port Canaveral

Hawaii beach wedding destinations

The favored destinations are

Oahu

Maui beach

Kauai

The list of most common beach wedding destinations outside the country is

Caribbean beach weddings

St. Thomas

Tortola

Grand Caymans

Other islands are Cancun

Puerto Rican Islands

Dominican Republic

Bahamas

US Virgin Islands

Finalize the Wedding planner

Once you have swooped down on a particular location then you need to do things according to a particular plan so that all things come together on the given wedding day.

You can get all arrangements done on your own and or take the help of a wedding planner in the beach town where you have decided to hold the wedding reception.

The wedding planner will help you get all the necessary permits as well as the necessary arrangements done. These wedding planners usually have all the required contacts with local vendors for flower arrangements and decorations as well for wedding arches etc and many more items which you cannot even fathom.

Use a Checklist

There are so many small things that you are likely to forget in the stress of planning a beach wedding that you will definitely need to make sure that that each and every item of note should be on your spreadsheet with a date attached to it as well as the name of the person responsible for it. Make sure that you have that person’s contact number on it.

That way you can easily manage using the fact sheet as well as you will be able to plan based on timeline.

Finalize the beach wedding ceremony Décor

Once you have finalized the destination as well engaged a wedding planner then the next step is to finalize the kind of wedding decoration that you want for the beach wedding.

There is huge number of things that you along with your wedding planner will need to think for the decorations.

Beach Arch Wedding Decorations

Photogragh by andreap83

Select a Theme

If you really need to decorate a wedding ceremony properly then make sure that you have theme selected as that will help you easily select the wedding decoration pieces and mind you there are varied decoration that you need to take care of which I will be explaining one by one in the next few articles.

A few examples of themes can be the balloon theme or the sea shells theme or the only glass theme or the sand theme.

The theme can also be based on your personality and can be a bold theme representing a multiple of colors and yes if you really want a out of sorts theme then you can choose a native theme based on the beach town where you are having the wedding.

For example in Florida you may have different theme than you would have in the Caribbean Islands. You can have a music filled theme for a Caribbean island wedding or even a bamboo theme wedding.

The positive side of these weddings is that you have a goal and decoration idea in mind for everything ranging from the centerpieces to the arches and even the tables.

The negative side that is that you may have to put in a little more effort and planning for the wedding decoration. Hey but what the heck it is your wedding so why not have the best!!!

Finalize the beach wedding Reception Decoration

The wedding reception ceremony is equally important and that means again as I explained earlier selecting a theme for the reception.

You can have the same décor as the wedding ceremony or you can change the wedding reception decoration.

In terms of saving the cost it is a good idea to have the same décor as the ceremony and only the items will change but not the basic underlying theme.

In this blog of mine I will keep giving out various wedding reception decoration ideas from time to time.

Beach wedding Dresses

The most important part of the wedding is the dress and if you are getting married on a beach then you need to have dress that matches the theme of the wedding.

The wedding dress fitting and finalization takes a lot of time and if it is the marriage season then you need make sure that you book the wedding dress designer well in advance.

Get all the dates for the trial fittings as well as the final delivery well in advance.

The same goes for the bridesmaid gown and dresses as well the tuxedo or dress for the groom. Usually the dress for the groom takes less of time as well as fitting trials than the bride and hence this advance booking.

Beach wedding Invitations and Save the Date

It is very important that you give the information about the venue well in advance to the guests. You can send the save the date cards to them and follow that with a good invitation. Needless to say it will have to have the theme of the wedding as the basic idea.

The guests can make their arrangements for arriving at the venue whether by air or by road. Also you will know based on the invitations accepted that how many guests are likely to arrive.

That number will help you making stay arrangements for the guests as well as you can them plan the venue decorations and make food and drink arrangements accordingly.

Have a back up plan ready

As you are having your wedding outdoors that means that you are the mercy of Mother Nature.  As I suggested in #2 that you definitely need to check the weather before finalizing the destination but things can go wrong easily.

For example the wind can blow so strong that it becomes impossible to have the wedding outside or it suddenly starts raining.

There can be some other unfortunate things that can happen which will prevent you from having the wedding outside and that will mean that you need to have a back up plan ready for the unfortunate eventuality.

Make sure that you have covered portion of nearby resort already booked for such type of circumstance or best even get a venue which has resort or a beach hotel attached alongside so that the arrangements can be shifted inside at the last minute. Most resort hotels which cater to weddings will have alternate arrangements and backups ready.

Wedding day arrangements

On the actual wedding day itself you cannot run around looking for minute details so here are some tips for that day. Remember wedding day for you is to enjoy and absorb the essence of the occasion

Delegate

Start delegating the work well before in advance to family members so that they can take care of everything well in advance.

Arrive In Advance at the destination.

It is always better to arrive in advance at the wedding destination. You can come a day or two early along with your family members so that you can do a final checkup of all the facilities.

Also call up the various vendors as well as the wedding planner to make sure that they know of the date and are working according to the directions given.

Final Checklist walkthrough

I know it will look like pure project management but yes you need to go through the checklist that you prepared initially night before the wedding day and make sure that you have not missed out on anything.

            Congratulations on your wedding day!!!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.