After much deliberation I decided on a start; location. I really couldn’t see myself doing the status quo, and lining up guests in the local church that we don’t attend, pretending to be members for the day. Also, stained glass, and ministerial posturing have strange effects on my attitude. Knowing Jaimi as I have come to, over the years, I knew she would understand and agree with me here. So I opted us out.
In the past few years, several of our friends have married on islands in the Caribbean. I liked the theory, but having seen pictures on their return, I knew that I would have to make changes to be happy with the effect. I wanted to knock her off her feet. In the clutch of bad circumstance, the recollection of our wedding day has to be sunshine. In order to have that, I would be involved in change. We’d be married in the Caribbean, and if heaven permitted, on the beach itself, barefoot. The search for the right island began, and after reading dozens of web pages, and reviews from previous visitors, The Dominican Republic was it.
The original idea was to go to The Atlantis Resort, on Paradise Island, in the Bahamas. I’ve seen, and was drawn in by, the commercials showing the beautiful hotels, the aquarium, and other attractions. That place really is a commercial marvel, full of amusements and activities. The problem was that as I read reviews on the resort, I found that 1 in 3 vacationers had complaints about the service. It seems that one third of us gluttonous American tourists find the Bahamian temperament to be slow, lackadaisical, and aloof.
Valid or not, those were odds that I wasn’t willing to risk. Finding the Dominican Republic was pure luck. As soon as I saw the palm tree beaches, and the rugged volcanic terrain, I knew I found our place. To back it up, when I read reviews of the island resorts, they were overwhelmingly positive.