Deana and Jimmy’s Mermaid Themed Destination Wedding in the Dominican Republic. By Katya Nova Photography

It may be officially British summer time but the weather is far from summary at the moment, so today I am whisking you off to the beautiful Dominican Republic for todays real wedding. It’s the wedding of the gorgeous Deana  and Jimmy who decided on a destination wedding so they could get married outdoors and what a beautiful setting they chose. With a theme of ‘adult little mermaid’ running throughout the decoration of the day, Deana and Jimmy took some rather gorgeous after wedding shots with their photographer Katya Nova Photography. A beautiful collection of images that accompany todays gorgeous wedding.

‘An outpouring of love from 7am – 2am. A magical under the sea celebration.’

Deana and Jimmy were married on 10th October 2014 at Bavaro Punta Cana, Dominican Republic – Jellyfish Restaurant. ‘I always wanted a destination wedding because the thought of getting married indoors depressed me. We were also engaged at the venue we were married a year earlier so that made it a lot easier to persuade Jimmy to be on board with a destination wedding. We had 70 guests in total. Sporadic planning began right after we got engaged but all the ceremony and reception details were ironed out within 4 months of the wedding day.’

How they met
We met as friends working in a restaurant in college. We were friends for 3 years before dating and have been together going on 6 years.

The Proposal
The proposal happened in the Dominican Republic a year and a half before the wedding. The trip was a Valentine’s Day gift. Jimmy surprised me by finding the Jellyfish and taking me to dinner off the resort and completely surprising me with a proposal.

How did you allocate your budget
I was given the budget by Jimmy and was told to stay as close to it as possible. We wanted to make sure it was as amazing as possible since people were traveling so far for us. The most important things for us were venue, food, booze, music and photography

How did you choose your photographer
After we decided on our venue I completely stalked photos on the website of previous weddings nonstop. I quickly realised that every single photo album I was drooling over were photos by Katya Nova. After one email exchange I was 100% in due to her
overwhelming compassion and love of her work.

The Dress
Dress was Temperley London shoes were Seychelles (although I wore them all about 10 min) earrings Tiffany’s.

The Suit and Bridesmaids
The guys just wore white shirts and grey pants with turquoise bow-ties. Jimmy’s suit was J. Crew. The bridesmaids and jr bridesmaids wore various styles of turquoise David’s Bridal dresses. The 5 flower girls wore custom made dresses from Etsy shop Mya Papaya Boutique. https://www.etsy.com/people/MyaPapayaBoutique

Theme or Colour Scheme
The theme I gave my amazing coordinators was “adult little mermaid”. I wanted lot of very mismatched metals, materials, rustic/vintage looking chandeliers, and shipwrecked looking items.

Flowers
I am not positive exactly what kind of flowers we had I know there was a lot of different bright colored flowers.

Food
Our menu was steak and lobster but being a vegetarian the Jellyfish made me a special vegetable based entrée which was delicious.

Wedding Cake
The wedding cake was a small 2 tier mermaid inspired coral cake. The inside was a gorgeous pink ombre and it was absolutely delicious. We also had about 30 cupcakes to surround it.

Entertainment
We had a fire show! It was incredible. Everyone was so surprised and loved it!

Buy or DIY your Stationery
At the Jellyfish they hand made all of our stationary.

Personal or Handmade Touches
I purchased a lot of handmade items from etsy but I personally did not DIY anything.

Special Moments
I loved doing the first look. I didn’t realize how nervous I was until I saw Jimmy standing there with his back to me but once I walked down the aisle it was all just fun and laid back.

Advice to other couples
In regards to planning I just say have a good team around you … whether it be your mother, best friend, sister, or wedding planner. My wedding coordinators were so very helpful in helping me to conceptualize what I wanted. They weren’t afraid to tell me something was going to look bad or weird which I really appreciated. For the day itself I say just try to stay chill and keep everything in perspective. There is no such thing as a “perfect” day so just enjoy your day and try not to let it go by without looking around and taking it all in.

Biggest surprise
Biggest surprise was meeting all of my vendors and loving all of them as though we had been friends for years. Other surprise was seeing our finished décor and just dying over how amazing it all looked!

Supplier Shout Outs

• Plastic tumblers for welcome bags – www.etsy.com/listing/153845873/60-destination-wedding-favors
• My Veil – www.etsy.com/shop/pureblooms
• Bags for bridesmaids – www.etsy.com/listing/172764403/time-to-drink-champagne-dance-on-beach?ref=listing-shop-header-0
• Guest book – www.etsy.com/listing/92960279/unique-wedding-guest-book-the-beachwik-a
• Here comes the bride sign – www.etsy.com/shop/SaltyGirlandLongDog
• Necklaces for bridesmaids – www.etsy.com/listing/181148826/gold-four-necklace-set-14-k-gold-fill
• Necklaces for flower girls – www.etsy.com/listing/130168879/lifes-a-beach-starfish-wish-necklace-buy
• Flower girl dresses – www.etsy.com/shop/MyaPapayaBoutique
• Alterations for wedding dress – www.theweddingdresser.com
• Headpiece – www.boandluca.com/Shop/accessories/
• Photographer – www.katyanova.com

For more information on Katya’s work please go to:

www.katyanova.com
FACEBOOK
@KatyaNova