I'm really glad we can't book until a year out because we're seriously considering switching to a gulf coast DW. We'd talked about possibly doing a beach DW originally but shot it down because of costs...well...
- A few weeks ago when FI told FSD he wanted her to be a part of our wedding, FSD told FI that she had a dream that we got married on a beach.
- When I started talking specifics with my family, my brother mentioned a beach wedding instead (without knowing about the FSD conversation) and my mom started piping up with beach locations within the US (it sounded like she didn't want to travel out of the country due to costs - which is understandable because both of my parents are currently laid off!)
- FSS told FI yesterday that he wants to go back to SeaWorld for vacation next year. We took the kids in 2010 to SeaWorld, Aquatica, Busch Gardens, Medieval Times, Cocoa Beach & Clearwater Beach.
FI & I both loved the gulf coast better, and it seems to be falling into place a bit. We talked about it after taking the kiddos back to their moms tonight and discussed it further. A lot of it still depends on cost, but if we're doing the vacation anyways, airfare + hotel stay would be taken out of the vacation budget, not the wedding budget.
- We still want a honeymoon but don't want the kids flying back home solo so they'd have to fly back with one of our parents/grandparents.
- We would do our vacation with the kids, then have a week to ourselves.
- FI's ex has talked about wanting to take them to Disney (she threw a fit when we wanted to take them a few years ago) and since we would already be paying for plane tickets for the kids, she would only have to worry about getting herself + baby down for transportation costs. She could fly or drive (and the kids could ride back with her if she drove which would save us money). She also has a friend that moved down there and it would be a good excuse for her to visit. The Sea World tickets we bought previously were good for 2 weeks from first use, so they could also go to Sea World and she would only have to buy a ticket for herself.
I can still DIY invites, flowers (just pick some up when we get there instead), and we can still do a simple restaurant reception. I'm going to look at the FL & DW boards to see what other FL gulf brides have done - there's a lot of one-size-fits-most package planners on-line and it would be good to see who else has already weeded through all of the BS
Formerly known as flutterbride2b