This will be my 3rd (and final marriage), my first wedding was in a courthouse & we hit the bar afterwards (I wore a pantsuit & he wore his Class A's)... Second marriage was a surprise wedding at a chapel in Vegas while on vacation & hung out on Freemont Street afterwards watching the sky shows (he wore a suit & I had to to hit a Ross Dress For Less & I wound up with a purple prom dress as that's all they had in my size & I didn't pack a dress).
This time around I'm doing it the way I have always wanted to do it (have been dreaming about since I was a little girl in fact) I have booked my beach destination wedding for Sandals La Toc in St. Lucia. I'm FINALLY getting to wear the dress I have always dreamed of wearing & doing all the planning that I never got to do the first 2 times around. My FH is so wonderfully understanding & has been very encouraging & supportive of the whole planning the wedding & reception process (he tells me this more for my benfit than his so I should do it the way I want).
In sticking with the beach theme I have gone all out on my dream reception with one catch... We want to have it the day before we fly out to St. Lucia for the actual ceremony & weeklong honeymoon. I will be wearing a dress similar to my wedding dress (I want to keep the actual dress a surprise for our wedding day) at the reception & my FH has decided to go with a more casual style of what he will be wearing. We will have the cake, and the dinner, and the first dance, and the toasts, and the photographer. And my FH and I have written out 'reception vows' to recite to each other before we cut the cake.
Some of my friends think this is awfully ridiculous. That if I'm going to all that trouble why not just get married right then & there & just to St. Lucia for the honeymoon since that's 'the proper way to do it'... I'm a little hurt & offended as I found this to be a very exciting & fresh idea. My FH is the one who came up with the idea since I was worried that somehow the reception wouldn't get a chance to happen as my first 2 weddings were basically 'shotgun' and the receptions that were supposed to come later kept getting put off for one reason or another (no money, scheduling conflicts, unexpected pregnancies). He also suggested that we could send out pics from the reception & wedding & our adventure in St. Lucia on disks with our thank-you cards when we return. I have seen others do their receptions a few days after a DW clear out to a year afterwards.
So I guess I'm just looking for an outsiders point of view on this subject since so many of my friends have the opinion that if I am finally getting to do all this I should stick with it the proper way....Opinions/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!!!