Tips For The Budget Conscious Bride

You just got engaged, or halfway through planning your wedding, and you are either a frugal bride, on a budget, or you have your parents' (or Fiancé's) voice in the back of your head, yelling at you to spend less. Either way, these tips may help you reduce some of those little extra costs that add up.

1) Check the sales rack - I know for some of you hearing the words "sales rack" is like a screeching sound that makes you cringe. Well, guess what? ON SALE does not mean lesser quality, it means you could get an expensive fabulous dress for less, meanwhile another bride got the same dress for a lot more. 

Me, I thought outside the box. For my wedding dress I had a bridesmaids dress made in all white, believe it or not I couldn't find anything as perfect as this one was for my wedding and my style. Since I had a beach wedding, this dress was light, comfortable and stunning (IMHO). I tried on several 'beach wedding dresses' and they felt heavy, I just knew I wouldn't be able to stand being in any them for very long. And the best part, because its not an actual wedding dress, I can have the dress dyed in one of my favorite colors and wear it again!  (A quick tip for this: a dark color will make it look like a totally different dress, not so much a lighter color...I'm thinking a dark magenta for mine)

2) Shop in the off season - For example, shoes! Now that summer is almost over, retailers are rolling out fall and winter shoes, which means those amazing, strappy shoes with rhinestones (that make your legs look so much sexier) are on sale. Also retailers are rolling out new collections, ie. Tip #1

3) Don't buy the first thing you see - Shop around and if you must have it after seeing what else is out there, then get it. The internet is your best friend, you can find more deals online, so use it to your advantage.

4) Give yourself plenty of time - The more time you have, the longer you can look around and will not have to make last minute, exorbitant purchases. You can look in a range of stores, especially those you think have nothing, because you never know, they might surprise you.

Review of My Destination Wedding at Majestic Colonial, Punta Cana, D.R.

A little overdue, but here is my review on how my destination wedding was at the Majestic Colonial Resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

I am originally from the Dominican Republic, born and raised. So when my husband and I first started talking about where to have the wedding, we had no doubt that we wanted to have a destination wedding, and where better than my place of birth? 

The abundance of resorts in Punta Cana, and all around the coast of the island, made it challenging when selecting the perfect resort. After lots and lots of research we decided on the Majestic Colonial, but not before flying down there to see it for ourselves personally and meeting with a wedding coordinator about a year in advance. 

We have stayed at other resorts in the area before that are on the same level as the Majestic Colonial, but found that the Majestic was a better bang for your buck. We were pleasantly surprised with the rooms; they were the cleanest, most comfortable and nicest rooms I've seen in the PC area (for the money). 

For our wedding weekend, upon check-in, we were upgraded to a one bedroom suite (see above). This was very convenient when getting ready for the wedding, having my MOH, my mom, my MIL, the photographers, etc.

We got there on a Wednesday and our wedding took place on Friday, March 26, 2010. We met with the coordinator on Thursday to go over all the details and give her some of the decorations for them to put up, such as the chair sachés, table runners, paper lanterns, a picture of how we wanted the cake, etc.

My mom pretty much took care of the rest of the decor and guided the hotel wedding coordinator as to how to place everything. 

My wedding coordinator, Wardes, was great. She was very professional and pleasant to work with. Everything was timed perfectly and the ceremony started on time. 

Right after the ceremony, we had a champagne toast which is included in the wedding package and every guest got a glass of champagne. Everyone said they loved that we did that because it was different.

After the toast it was picture time. The guests went to the lobby bar for cocktails while we took our pictures. There are so many places throughout the resort that make beautiful backdrops for photography including the little chapel they have on premise, and we had the best photographers fly down with us, Bella Loren Photography. Even though we had an hour and a half to take pictures, until the reception started, we still ran out of time and wanted to take more, but it was also very hot and we wanted to get our groove on and see our friends and family.

We had the reception at the Tres Calaberas Terrace, where we had them set the tables in a big U shape, leaving the middle as the dance floor. This made for a more intimate setting.