Good morning from a lurking knottie

VanessaCW

Hello ladies! 

Please let me first apologize for not being up to speed on all the knotiquette. I read here avidly but I don't post because I haven't figured out all the sig stuff plus, you may have noticed my name is less than creative. My boyfriend hasn't formally proposed (I guess he's waiting on Christmas), though we have been ring shopping and have discussed out plans for getting married on the beach in 2011. He gave me the go-ahead to start wedding planning...though I must admit I feel a little silly doing so before I have the ring on my finger. Regardless, here I am.  

I love reading your ideas and you'll have the most creative and fun posts. I'm still trying to lock down a date (not to mention the RING) and a location. I don't want Mexico (even thought that would be more geographically convenient) and Hawaii is too far for our families located on the coast so we're thinking the Caribbean would be perfect. Thanks to your posts, I've checked out both DestinationWeddings.com and BeachBumVacations.com. Honestly, I can't figure which is the better way to go for both a destination AND a budget wedding. I don't want to start out in debt (especially since I have student loans and retail therapy debt to pay off) so a small, simple wedding where I still get to wear a white dress and have our close friends and family would be perfect. We're even thinking about cruising but looking up all of that and the costs associated has given me a couple headaches already so I benched that thought for now. 

Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to get ideas from you all! 

Smiles,Vanessa

hwkeyebrideinstl

Welcome! And don't worry, I was like you, lurking before actually being engaged. My FI and I had gone ring shopping in January and 5 months later it was only after I found the rings (that he had for 3 months) that he finally proposed! Sometimes they just get worked up on the actual proposing part (they want it to be perfect), so don't worry.

Anyway, figuring out the location (and date--that does figure in to your location when you consider weather and high/low seasons and budget) is definitely the hardest part. I originally wanted somewhere in the Caribbean (or Hawaii, but that was way too expensive), but ended up with Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I ended up finding a resort I really loved within the budget I was willing to have (and the budgets of my guests--another thing to highly consider when choosing a place), which is how I ended up with PV. I really wanted an all-inclusive resort as well, so if you're looking at AIs, that will cut down your options as well (some countries don't do AI).

I initally looked a lot at travel sites to first gauge prices of the types of resorts I was looking at then would lookup that resort on Trip Advisor to look at the reviews. You have to take some reviews with a little bit of a grain of salt, but if you keep reading the same thing over and over about a place, then it's probably true and not just an isolated incident.

Good luck!

VanessaCW

FIVE MONTHS LATER?! I don't know what I'll do if I have to wait five months...especially since he wants us to move wherever he gets orders (he's a Naval Officer so we have to consider that also) in August! I don't want to wait that long to set the date!

Thanks for the consideration of Mexico. I have considered it also...Was it everything you wanted and more? I guess because I live in San Diego, I've only seen border towns and those have been less than impressive. I understand the rest of the country is nicer.

Thanks for the welcome! Happy, happy Wednesday!

hwkeyebrideinstl

Seriously. I was going nuts. It went from ring shopping in January, to nothing happening on Valentine's Day, nothing happening on my birthday (March 8), nothing happening on HIS birthday (March 23), nothingness for a month or so, him answering a mysterious phone call which caused me to reverse lookup the phone number that called him and finding out it was a jewelry store, seeing the statement from said jewelry store come in the mail a couple weeks later, to me finally breaking and snooping in the one place I decided to look (the safe), which is how I found the rings. I broke down and admitted I found them a few days later after going completely crazy (especially when I saw on the receipt he had them for 3 months!).

I haven't actually been to the resort I chose yet (getting married in 4 1/2 months though), but from pictures and talking to people that HAVE been there, I was definitely convinced that was my place (it's Dreams Puerto Vallarta). And yeah, the resort towns are nothing like the border towns. They're tropical and vacation-friendly.

aukelly

Welcome!  TK has been acting up the past few days so it's been hard for a lot of us to post and respond.

Anyway, I'm getting married in St Lucia.  FI and I both nixed a few placed fairly quickly and Mexico was on our list too.  We'd both been and wanted a place neither us nor our family and friends had been.  I finally put my foot down after he took too long to figure it out.    We ended up choosing Sandals.  We knew we wanted AI and it was in our budget.  It might be a little pricey but we felt that it was a good deal for what we wanted.  

If you are flexible on your date then you shouldn't have too many issues finding a place but if you are looking to get married in the spring or summer I would start looking.  

Also make sure you are aware of the residency restrictions for each island.  islandbrides.com is a good site for that.  Some places require you to be there 1 day, 3 days, 24 hours.  It just depends.  That was our biggest thing, finding a place where we wouldn't have to be there for several days.  St. Lucia was actually off the list bc they require you to be there 3 days, unless you know you can pay an expedite fee  Yes please.  

Anyway, welcome and keep us updated on your plans.  

ms_teach

Welcome!  I just wanted to encourage you about the proposal part also. I knew FI bought the ring because he showed me the receipt (long story) and we were moving in together in February.  Anyway, I thought it was coming for me on my birthday (October).  Then I thought during the big tree lighting at our capitol (Thanksgiving).  Then, I thought Christmas.  As a last resort, I thought New Year's.  He ended up asking me December 29th just to make sure it was a surprise... so hang in there, it's coming!

dap807

I'm in the same boat!!  We've started talking about our plans and I know he has the ring.  It's making me quite crazy.  What's killing me most is that he's carrying it around in his messenger bag!! In his mind he must think it's a good idea...really!?!? What if he forgets it somewhere or worse!  

Anyways, I found it a few weeks ago while looking for hand sanitizer.  He has no clue.  I kept checking to see if it was still in there, and finally last week said enough is enough and I just let it go.  I can't think about it anymore.  It will happen when it happens I guess!  To make matters worse, our families keep asking me because they know about it too.

Hang in there!  It's nice to know someone else is feeling just as nutty as me. 

DiamondDani

I know this is late, the board has been really funky and not working right lately.

But I wanted to tell you that we picked our wedding date before we erre even engaged too! We went ring shopping in November 2009. And in December we were talking and decided New Years Eve 2010 would be a good date--even though we weren't engaged yet! He told me I wouldn't get the ring until January, but I started planning anyway since we had the date set. Well, he proposed on NYE 2009, a month before he said he was going to. Hang in there. The month between ring shopping and the proposal was TOUGH.

I'm a Jamaica bride, if you have any questions on that island. And WELCOME!!!