Destination Wedding--Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

A couple of weeks ago I posted a review on the Majestic Colonial Resort, where I had my destination wedding and my experience with them. I said I would write another post on the actual wedding and here it is--TA DA!!!

Each of our guests received this welcome bag full of goodies. Some of the things included: A hangover kit, filled with all the necessities like band aids, tylenol, electrolyte mix, etc; a koozie, the weekend itinerary and guide of the resort booklet, sudoku book, bath loofahs, snacks, hand sanitizer, lip balm, playing cards....among many other things.

My flower hair pin for the reception and one of my bracelets; I had two bracelet options, this one was the most modest one, but I ended up wearing the bolder one at the last minute.

                             My son, and ring bearer, Evan :D

A letter I wrote my husband before the ceremony.

Our vows to each other and Lawrence's vows to Evan, which became the most emotional part of the whole ceremony, not a dry eye in the crowd.

I loved having a destination wedding, because once we arrived at the resort, I didn't have to worry about anything but relaxing. I mean, seriously, what bride hangs out at the pool with friends and family --*ahem* having a couple of piña coladas-- up until a couple of hours before her wedding?? But the best part was making memories throughout a few days as opposed to just one night.

Our wonderful photographers, and guests as well--I again have to give them credit, because they are the best--Dustin and Diana from Bella Loren Photography, were amazing. Dustin and I used to work together and before I even met Lawrence and I told him that if I ever got married again, I wanted him as my wedding photographer. They captured our wedding in a way that describes who we are. They were also there to capture the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, and pretty much most of the weekend--they did get to relax though.

Our wedding party consisted of only my Maid of Honor, my cousin, and the Best Man, Lawrence's best friend. We wanted to keep it small and simple, no fuss. My colors started off as chartreuse and brown, not your typical beach wedding colors, but that's me, I never do typical. I did end up adding touches of citrus orange for the ease of finding flowers for the arrangements and bouquets. My dress is actually a bridesmaids dress from Bari Jay, which I had them make in all white. I couldn't find a dress I liked that wasn't too heavy, and this one was perfect--its totally me. I wore a cathedral length mantilla veil for the ceremony, because of my Spanish heritage--a little tricky with the wind, but I don't regret wearing it.

For the ceremony, we ended up having to do something different as well. First, let me say that we got legally married in the U.S. before the destination wedding to prevent anything from going wrong. Our original officiant, and father of the groom, was unable to attend at the last minute due to unforeseen, and understandable, circumstances. So when we found out about a week or so before we flew down there, we came up with the idea of having our families marry us. We wrote up the whole symbolic ceremony and gave everyone a part to read, and basically the maid of honor and best man pronounced us husband and wife. Everyone just looooved the way it turned out, it was very unique. But as mentioned before, my husband's vows to my son was the most emotional part of the whole ceremony, thank goodness for waterproof mascara. Even the toughest of the crowd let out a tear.

The reception, despite the music catastrophe (see review of resort blogpost), was still energetic. It is a fairly new tradition in the D.R. to have masks and feathers and beads brought out towards the middle or end of the reception--after dinner, first dance, and any traditional reception moments--bringing energy to the crowd and make it somewhat of a carnival (or mardi gras here in the US) type of a party.

Both my husband and I like adventure, and this was definitely one to remember. I married the love of my life and my best friend. There's never a dull moment with him and I look forward to making more wonderful memories with my true love and my son for the rest of our lives.