Pro-bam Destination Micro Wedding

Guests: 21

Venue: Boca Marina, Boca Chica, DR

My attire

Dress: Lulus

Shoes: DSW

Earrings and rings: Dazzling Rock

Back Necklace: The Songbird Collection

Headpiece: Asos

Veil: Amazon

His attire

Tux, tie, shirt, shoes: Asos

Pocket square: Etsy

Ring: Amazon

Estimate total cost: USD$7,000

We got married on April 21st at a restaurant on a pier in the Dominican Republic. My husband and I planned everything ourselves, we didn’t have a wedding planner or coordinator.

The day before the wedding we arrived at the Airbnb we rented. It was located right in front of the wedding venue. It was a wonderful loft with 3 balconies facing the ocean. That night we had a Dominican homemade meal (prepared by my mom and me) for all the guests in order to break the ice between them since they didn’t know each other. It was a lot of fun and we even got the chance to practice some merengue and Bachata with our guests and most importantly, the guests got familiarized with the route to get to the wedding venue.

On the next day, I was in a great mood. My husband decided to take some sun while my mom, my friend and I got ready. The photographers and videographers got there early and it all went smoothly. We still had leftovers from the night before, plus a cheese and ham tray we got and I ate the whole day.

My mom got her hair and makeup done first. I had gotten my hair done 3 days before, so I got to work on our video with the P&V (photo and video) crew. Once my mom was done, it was my time to get ready and the P&V crew got in the room to capture that moment. At the same time, my husband was getting ready with his dad.

When we were both ready it was time for our first look. I thought I wasn’t going to cry, but when I saw him I started crying like a baby. At that moment nothing else mattered and I couldn’t believe how handsome he looked. I actually never had a chance to see myself with my full attire before our first look. I guess I was just focused on my husband. We had so much fun with our pictures and then it was time to start the ceremony.

The cellist started playing “A thousand years” by Christina Perri and the pastor, my husband, and my niece walked to that song. I didn’t want my niece to throw petals, so I got her a bubble gun instead and she looked the cutest while shooting her bubbles. After that it was my turn to walk, I walked myself down the aisle while singing “You are mine” by Secret Nation. That was a magical moment. I forgot about everyone else and just saw my husband waiting for me, with the Caribbean Sea and the blue sky as a background while he looked at me with his beautiful shiny eyes. When I was at the altar with him I felt so happy. The pastor’s message was concise and short and we said our personalized vows.

I had memorized mine, but I still had my vow book in my hand and again I thought I had all my emotions under control, but I hadn’t. I cried saying my vows and there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. Then my husband said his and of course, I was crying the whole time. After we were pronounced husband and wife, the cellist played “Happy” by Pharrell Williams and we ran to a secluded area in order to take the moment in. When we felt ready, we headed back and we greeted everybody. It was so nice to see them there just happy for us. Then we started the pictures with the guests and even got a group photo with everyone. After that, we got ready for dinner and as soon as we ordered our first round of drinks it started drizzling.

The restaurant had an area prepared for us already and it was very convenient. The dinner was delightful and the portions were huge. While we were having dinner, we were playing a video I made on the projector with pictures of us along with our friends and family, they loved it. After dinner ended, the rain had already stopped and we moved to our previous area where we had our toasts. We had asked our guests to give a little speech if they felt like it and most of them did. There I was, again, crying like a baby. The last person to give a speech was my younger brother and he projected a slide show he had prepared with photos of us from our childhood, it was so special.

After all that crying we were ready for our first dance. We danced “Muchachita Linda” by Juan Luis Guerra, a bachata that my husband and I really love. It was a magical moment because there were some string lights hanging above us and it felt like a dream. Afterward, I took my father in law to the dance floor and everybody started dancing (with the dance moves they learned the night before). And finally, we cut the cake and it was amazing, our cake was made of vanilla dough filled with dulce de leche and had peanut butter buttercream and it was a dream. The rest of the desserts were amazing as well. Our cake toppers were a gift from a friend, I basically sent him pictures of our full attire and hairstyles for the wedding day and he made our Funko Pops look just like us.

There were many things that turned out different than what we planned (I wrote a post about it), but our day was magical and it was amazing having our loved ones there to celebrate with us. Having eloped first I can tell you that having a ceremony to celebrate with family and friends it’s totally worth the effort. Enjoy the photos!

Vow booksOur Funko Pops are the cutestOur first lookThe cake and desserts tableMy groomThe bubbles girlWhile singing myself to the aisleCrying while praying togetherFirst kissMore kisses Just marriedMy favorite photoWith the sunset in the backgroundFirst danceEverybody having fun