He Beat Me to the Punch

Ok, so we didn't 'exactly' wait until after Adrienne's wedding to plan a little.  It just got to be too much fun while we were looking.  

Dan loves to get the best deal for your money.  And I, well, I just really like the pictures.  Turquoise blue water, white sand, palm trees...  Perhaps it is the Chicago cold...  But I could look at pictures like these all day long.

I can see myself under that hut in the distance; reading a book or taking a nap.  I am someone who knows how to lounge on a beach.

I am also someone who would go snorkling or diving (yes, we are both SCUBA certified) in the perfectly clear water.  Or just walk along the surf, with plenty of sunscreen and not a care in the world.

These are just random pictures but the great part, they were both taken at the resort we have chosen.  Yes, I'm trying to temp you.  Is it working?  The countdown has begun and all will be invited.

Talk to everyone soon.
Love,
Carly

September 3rd, 2012

It's official - we have a date.  Signed the forms and sent the deposit, we are going to Dreams Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic!  Only 16 months to go...

http://www.dreamsresorts.com/drepc/

More details to come as we get closer.  It's too early to start booking,  but never too early to start saving.  So pinch those pennies and skip the morning latte, there's going to be a party in the Caribbean and everyone is invited.

Dan

Where to Look - When You're Not Looking

Ok, so we started in Greece.
A quick browse online and some fancy spreadsheet calculations and we figured out - HOLY CANOLI Greece is expensive!
Now, it wouldn't be all that expensive for us.  We plan on staying a bit.  And once you are there, the hotels and food aren't so bad.  The flights were a deal breaker.  We can't ask people to spend over $2K per person for a 4 day stay.  If everyone was going to stay a week+... that would be a different story.

Next, we travelled to Florida.
We looked into Destin, the Keys, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando...  You name it, we looked.  (Again, we aren't "looking" until June.)  Those lucky Georgia folks would have had it easy.  There were problems with all of these locations.  Our main problem, the hotels were expensive and trying to organize food and/or restaurants for everyone would be a nightmare.  Also, those places wanted head counts already.  This frustrated Carly.  (Seriously, people haven't been invited yet let alone RSVP'd!!)

We headed a bit further south to Aruba.
We poked around the Caribbean for a while but Aruba really stood out.  Flights from Dallas and Atlanta were pretty good.  But as soon as we started to dig into the resorts, we started finding problems; "all-inclusives" that didn't include lunch or drinks, places that didn't do receptions, couples only resorts, and some places that recently got some shady reviews.

We are currently peaking, without looking, at Punta Cana.
We are trying not to get our hopes up...  We are still looking for September 2012 - so everyone will have plenty of time to save.  Yes, we have heard that September is hurricane season but we've thought about that and done our homework.

So keep saving your pennies but you can now afford to treat yourself to a dinner out once in a while, keeping in mind that these are all bathing suit locations.  :)