Advice from Married women!!

[CheckedPjs]

Me and my fiance want to get married in Cuba in 2015 and just wanted some advice

1. I don't want an expensive wedding dress, what do you make of these ones on Ebay from China. has anyone had before?

2. If you've been married abroad what did you take I'm thinking just dress/suit and rings

3. If you had per say £200 a month spare each month, what would be the minimal you'd put away for saving? I'm saying all DP is reluctant to put it all away lol

Thanks!

A friend got a beautiful dress from china but I chose to buy one in the UK as it felt too much of a risk.

Can't answer question 2 because I got married in my home town.

We saved up in a short period of time so saved most of our disposable income. I'd just work out how much you would need to save each month in order to have the full cost saved and ready, give yourself a couple of months leeway in case of unexpected costs if you can.

If you don't want to spend too much on a dress, have a look at a company called Velvet Birdcage. They're on line, but have a shop on the south coast. I've used them before and the quality is much better than you'd get from China.

We got married in Wales, so can't help with Q2.

How much do you want to spend? Just divide that figure by the number of months until your wedding date and you'll know how much you have to save each month.

Thank you all!

Do a full dress/make-up/hair rehearsal the week before and pack everything you use or need that day. Otherwise you'll get there and discover you have forgotten something really vital like your bra or hairpins and have a panic finding them! Also, if your outfit is too hot for the climate have an easy, cool slip-on dress you can wear until the last minute that won't ruin your hair and makeup when you slip out of it. We got married on a teeny tropical island with no shops for 4 hours so had to be super-organised!

We also had to pack and bring party bags for guests and some customised place settings etc with us.

I would say chose your dress carefully.

I spent ages on a beautiful wedding dress. Several fittings, lots of money, etc. Proper wedding dress. Still got it. Gorgeous.

We got married on the beach in St Lucia. I have never been so hot in my life as I was in this fucking great big dress with its corset and massive skirts and tuille underskirts and silk layers and boning. Thank god it was strapless or I might actually have buckled under the heat.

All you will want is a simple, elegant, light dress. Trust me on this. As light and cook as possible.

Have a nice time!

*Cool, obviously, or you will cook, oh yes.

Thank you both!

We're expecting it to be around £4000

I go to the hotel in Cuba every year in April have done for 8 or so years so have emailed them direct as they're only charging 700CUC (£425) and our local agent wants to charge at least £750.

Am I thinking i just need my normal holiday stuff then my
dress/his suit/bridesmaid suit
rings & ring cushion
shoes
garter?

That's all in the hotels wedding package they're the same but more from our agent

We were married in Cuba in 2009 - totally the right decision for us, was a beautiful wedding, very intimate and perfect for what we wanted!

With regards to dress, I bought a dress from a bridal shop in the UK (which was THE dress and was also in the sale so was reduced from almost £1000 to £200!) and bought a special travel bag from the bridal shop for it - took it as my hand luggage (lovely flight attendant had a hook to hang it on aeroplane to keep it safe ) and put a few bits for flight in soon to be H's hand luggage
I know someone who chose a wedding dress in a bridal shop, paid deposit, looked it up online and found it for 1/6th of the price from China! Ordered it and it was perfect! Equally I know someone who ordered one, received it and it was terrible! Really hit and miss, so maybe ask around for someone who has specifically ordered from China, and get a recommendation?

I checked before I went and there was a hairdresser there so they did my hair (I just took a hairpiece to put in) and my sis did my makeup so we only took suit dress and rings

And I think saving as much as poss is the best idea - I know when we went we didn't want to limit ourselves on our spending as it was our wedding/honeymoon combined so wanted to have the most fantastic time (which we did!) We also paid for a wedding planner from the hotel, who arranged flowers, photographer (extra for prints) etc

HTH - sorry long post!!

Thanks Bekki I'm glad you had a wonderful day, I'm defiantly saving as much as I can for this. I can't wait!

I would want to know. I would like the information to come from my husband so we could openly communicate about the issues and see if there is any way to work things out.

Thanks, how much did that cost you?

Jabeen1000 What?

Got my dress from china and it was absolutely gorgeous

Was it off of Ebay 50? Do you have a link?

I got a dress from China and it was beautiful and excellent quality. Have a look at US-based wedding forums like wedding bee and best destination weddings - a lot of brides post photos of the dresses they've received. long running thread. I used a company called Elegant Park but it seems they're not so popular any more. I'd say it was as good as dresses costing 20x as much, but obviously not as good as the very expensive boutique designer dresses.

I sent them my measurements and it was custom made and didn't need any alterations. My aunt used to work in a tailor's shop and she said it was very well finished.

Here's dress I bought
www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/audrey-hepburn-wedding-dress