If you’re dreaming of a tropical destination wedding, Nicole and Matt’s celebration at Dreams La Romana Resort & Spa is the perfect inspiration. Overlooking the ocean in beautiful La Romana, their day embraced the natural beauty of their surroundings with relaxed, vacation-style elegance.
Minimal décor allowed the setting to shine, with birds of paradise, orchids, hibiscus, and lush ferns adding vibrant pops of pink and green throughout the ceremony and reception. From the white garden gazebo to their tropical sweetheart table, every detail felt effortlessly fun, laid-back, and perfectly suited to an island “I do.”
Where did you get married?
Dreams La Romana, La Romana, Dominican Republic
Why did you choose to get married at Dreams La Romana, Dominican Republic?
Matt and I love to travel, and we wanted to combine our wedding with a fun vacation with our family and friends.
The resort is beautiful, and the wedding gazebo in particular captured our attention as it’s a gorgeous ceremony venue right in front of the ocean. The reviews for the resort were great, and everyone said the food was amazing, which was a big deal for Matt and I.
What was the most memorable part of your wedding day?
The reception was probably the most memorable part of the day. We got to eat dinner with a small group of our closest friends and family and ate some great food, had an unlimited amount of alcohol and waiters that were delivering shots directly to the dance floor, and we bought some fun light wands for everyone that lit up the night in rainbow colours along with the fairy lights that were draped above the dance floor.
The reception venue was right next to the ocean as well, so there was a nice breeze the whole night and a lot of dancing. Afterwards, we went to a bar at the resort and had more fun talking, drinking, and laughing. It was a fantastic time and we’ll never forget it.
Nicole, paint us a picture. What was the theme, style, colors, and overall vibe of your wedding day?
The theme of the wedding was very tropical – we wanted to really take advantage of the beautiful place we were in. Decor was minimal – we had little bunches of birds of paradise flowers and ferns attached to a few rows of chairs in front of the white garden gazebo, which I mentioned overlooked the ocean, and my Maid of Honour and I had beautiful bouquets of birds of paradise, orchids, hibiscus, ferns, and other big tropical flowers.
There were more orchids, hibiscus, and birds of paradise flowers arranged on a table within the gazebo and along our sweetheart table at the reception, as well as at each table at the reception. Our colours were pink and green to accentuate the flowers, with my Maid of Honour in a dark green and our bridesman and groomsmen in light grey suits with green ties/bowties.
Matt was in a cream coloured suit with a dark green tie as well. The overall vibes of the wedding were casual, tropical, fun, laid back, and very vacation-y. 🙂
What was your favorite part of planning your wedding?
Honestly, putting together the music was probably my favourite part – getting to listen to all these songs that Matt and I have loved through the course of our 8 years together was so fun and nostalgic.
We picked a lot of songs that really defined our time together and what we want our future to look like. I also, of course, loved going wedding dress shopping and finding my dress – which was a super sparkly and off the shoulder A-line gown with a matching super sparkly sequined veil.
I had all of my loved ones with me and it only took me a day to decide on it – it was perfect!
What was the best investment you made for your wedding?
I’ve been saving money for things like this for a long time. I had savings and investment accounts with high interest just waiting for this day to arrive.
Don’t wait to start saving – if you know that getting married and having a wedding is what you want, start now. Otherwise, you’ll be in a pinch once you have to start paying for things.
There are lots of different investment platforms you can use to start making money on top of the money you’ve saved, as well – look into those and start investing. You’ll be happy you did when you look at those wedding bills!
Is there anything you would have done differently?
We probably would have had the ceremony at a different time of day… We had it at 3PM local time in the Dominican which is apparently the hottest time of the day!
No one told us that the sun would be shining directly in everyone’s faces the whole time, and with all the white (and my super sparkly dress), it was probably hard to see, haha. We even had someone faint from the heat (she’s fine, don’t worry!), so I think we would’ve had it earlier in the day and then had more time for people to relax before the cocktail hour and ceremony. Oh well – it was perfect regardless!
What was your favorite part of using WedSites for your wedding?
The checklist was really helpful. I loved getting emails letting me know that tasks were coming up, and being able to even assign tasks to different people in my bridal party was helpful.
I also just loved the overall functionality of the site – there are so many helpful things like being able to send Save the Dates and invitations straight from WedSites, using it for your wedding website, the checklist, the budget feature, even the seating chart.
It really has everything you need to plan your wedding! I’d definitely recommend it to anyone looking to get married soon.
Nicole and Matt’s customed designed wedding website
Wedding planning is notoriously stressful. Now that you’ve gone through the process, do you have any advice or words of wisdom for couples who are currently in the midst of planning theirs?
This is probably said a lot, but I would say to enjoy your engagement first before starting the planning process. It’s definitely stressful planning a wedding, especially if it’s a big one (which ours was not), so make sure you enjoy being engaged and not having anything to worry about at first.
Also, remember what the bottom line is – you’re getting married to your favourite person in the world. That’s what’s important, not inviting the right people or having the right food or having the event go perfectly (which, as a former event planner, I can tell you never happens haha) – it’s spending the time with your significant other. That’s what’s important. This is an amazing point in your life – be sure to enjoy it and have fun celebrating and planning. 🙂
The amazing team of vendors involved with this wedding:
Venue | Officiant | Caterer | Cake Baker | Decor | Entertainment: Dreams La Romana
Florist | Hair and Makeup: Sandra Green
Photographer: Cap Cana Photography
Wedding Dress: Creme Couture
Bridesmaid Dresses: David’s Bridal
Attire: Moore’s Clothing
Jeweler: People’s Jewellers
Wedding Planner: Preety Weddings & Travel
Wedding Website: WedSites
