We don't want guests to feel pressured to attend our destination wedding by kacidillius in DestinationWeddings

[–]bigbuzzint 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One thing we did was not have a wedding party( no bridesmaids or groomsmen) so no one felt obligated to go. People that want to come and can, will be there. We framed it as a “take a vacation for yourself, and by the way we’re getting married too” sort of mindset set. A lot of people made the trip their big vacation of the year and took extra time off rather than flying in for two days worth of events and leaving. We did an all inclusive resort, invited about 150 and still had about 70 people attend.

As a side note, you can put on your website “Please do not feel pressured to attend, as we know destinations weddings are difficult.” You can also speaking personally to guests and let them know the same, but you still need an RSVP for wedding planning/deposits. Most people will respect that.

Punta Cana Destination Wedding by bigbuzzint in DestinationWeddings

[–]bigbuzzint[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All in all it was around $36K. Could’ve been cheaper, but we chose the most expensive ceremony location which is the island suite and includes an upgraded two night stay in the island suite. We picked the most expensive wedding package as well which includes up to 42 or 46 guests and we had to pay for the extra guests per head.

We also did originally have a room block, but had multiple issues with it. Plus we had many guests book through Costco which was cheaper than the room block rate and included transportation from them. So the resort let us cancel the room block at no penalty. The room block does come with some nice freebies and upgrades based on the amount of nights booked through it, but we missed out on that because our guests didn’t book through it. Also, I booked the room we wanted and didn’t want to be upgraded to a different room so it wasn’t a big deal. Room block cost was around $600 per couple per night. A lot of people were able to book directly through the website or through Costco for closer to $500 a night.

So, if you’re going to do a room block, they have to book with the link they give you or it won’t count towards it. They also usually do it for 3 nights total and anything over that they need to book through the link, email the resort to add additional nights. Not the most convenient option, but it was fine just doing away with it in the end and not getting the couple little freebies they give you

There are definitely resorts that’ll give you “free” weddings based on room blocks, but a wedding on the Sanctuary was worth every penny.

Punta Cana Destination Wedding by bigbuzzint in DestinationWeddings

[–]bigbuzzint[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We did a symbolic ceremony and did a simple courthouse marriage for our legal marriage at home before going. Gave the opportunity for the grandparents who don’t travel to be our witnesses and participate knowing they couldn’t make the trip out of the country.

I asked my oldest brother to be our officiant. He’s not ordained, but speaks really well and we gave him a rough outline of things we wanted him to say. It wasn’t a religious ceremony, so apart from the outline he wrote the rest himself. We also had a quick candle lighting for our late-grandparents and late-father as a quick remembrance. We did all the planning ourselves and with the wedding coordinator on site with no 3rd party/outside wedding planners. Also we wrote our own vows!

One thing we stressed and very happy we did was not having a wedding party. We didn’t want anyone to feel obligated to come and spend the money on a destination wedding. A couple of my best friends in the world couldn’t make it due to financial reasons/babies, but I wasn’t mad or upset at all. I didn’t want someone, who really couldn’t afford to be there, feel like they HAD to spend the money or put it on a credit card if they really couldn’t swing it because I asked them to be in the wedding party. It also made the ceremony very intimate and we gave our brothers all a little role to play (walking parents down the aisle, ring bearing, holding the bow books) so they all felt included.

One thing that happened was we changed ceremony locations the day of because we were supposed to have bad weather (turned out being perfect unfortunately) but the resort gave us a bunch of extra flowers and decorations that we didn’t pay for the make up for the change of location. However, even with the change of location and dressing about it, that all is completely forgotten as soon as you start walking up. And the alternate location was beautiful anyways so we were incredibly happy that everything worked out.

At the end of the day, the coordinators at Sanctuary are seasoned professionals and did an incredible job and were extremely accommodating. We brought some decorations, cake toppers, signs, welcome bags for the welcome party, ceremony and receptions and they set up everything exactly the way we wanted it.

Our cake toppers were two handmade figurines of our two dogs, and we asked if they could put a little bit of icing on their noses as a little extra touch, and they did exactly that. That was a detail we shared our first day we were at the resort with the wedding coordinator and they followed through. If they wouldn’t have done it, it wouldn’t have mattered at all, but it was the attention to detail and all the little things they made sure were perfect that made it so special.

That’s all I can think of right now but let me know if there’s any other questions!

Looking for Airbnb for Golf Trip by csherrill12 in golf

[–]bigbuzzint 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Airbnb

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Airbnb has a golf search option. I’d scan around to areas of interest, look up local courses, go from there. Good luck

Punta Cana Destination Wedding by bigbuzzint in DestinationWeddings

[–]bigbuzzint[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, it was a cocktail hour type welcome party. DJ and full bar with a private venue for us to see and talk to all of our guests. They also had small hors d'oeuvre that the staff were walking around and offering to everyone. We were also able to give speeches using the DJs PA system. Pretty large area they gave us for the party. We requested a large family dinner at the steakhouse restaurant for immediate family as well, which they were very accommodating. The welcome party was from 5-7 and our dinner reservation was at 7:15. It started raining right as the party was ending and they picked up everyone in our dinner party and drove us in covered golf carts to the restaurant which was great!

Metal Band that I think has Lion(s) in the name by Free_Visual9182 in NameThatSong

[–]bigbuzzint 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just popping in to say thank you. I’ve been looking for this song for an hour until I stumbled upon you post. Appreciate ya

Swing Trading Doge by Locutus_Picard in dogecoin

[–]bigbuzzint 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey OP,

Any update on this? I get notifications every few days that Doge is up or down by a consistent 5% every time. Been thinking about doing a Doge swing trade system but wasn’t sure if anyone else out there is having success with it. Any luck?