What I would and wouldn't do again...

[LALA]

That's what I'm thinking. We have about 35 - 40 OOT bags and that makes for a lot of sunscreen to carry. I think I will do aloe in the bags and sunscreen wipes for the wedding.

[gkashmira]

We didn't provide sunscreen but I have to say that everyone I saw had brought their own. We also included it on a list of "What to pack" for our guests. In retrospect I wish I had done some sort of t-shirt or tank top or visor or something. All our friends had the best time and I know they would have appreciated a commemorative item (or even just a beer koozie!).

Oh well - too late now! hee hee hee... but then again my wedding went way over budget so it's probably good that I didn't get these...

[NABUMBAH]

things I would do again:

-location: it was exactly what we wanted
-attire: I had a meltdown the month before about the dress but I am glad that I didn't spend any more
-bootcamp & spanx: I didn't look like a fat cow thanks to these two gems
-flowers & decor: I have no idea who did the flowers, but they were gorgeous. I also loved the ribbon table runners that my mom and sister did
-boat RD: it was a blast
-the twins & mariachi: how could I forget? the twins ROCKED the house!
-photographer: I am really glad that we hired someone from here to do our photography.
-fireworks: such a fun touch for a relatively small amount of $.
-this forum: IT preserved my sanity. Especially since we booked everything and everyone sight unseen. Thanks, Tammy!

things that I could have done without:
-welcome dinner at tabasco's: it was difficult to find, and i think it was a little stressful for our guests to fly in and head straight to this event. it was also COLD on the beach. If I had a do-over I would have just hosted a cocktail hour somewhere.
-cake/dessert spread: like the rest of you, I think less than half of this stuff actually was touched.
-longer honeymoon! I seriously wish that we had either planned to do the full-blown HM after the wedding, or spent more time in Cabo. Not nearly enough time down there to fully unwind after the wedding
-better organization: I would have done a full rehearsal, and written out specific instructions so that I wasn't so stressed on our wedding day.

even so, it was a great time. It's funny, a month out I was much more stressed out about what went wrong. Now 3.5 months out, I have let go of a lot of it. I'm sure next year it will all be a distant memory.

[gkashmira]

OK, I have some more to add (Other people's posts reminded me of things):

I WOULD DO IT AGAIN:

Invitations from... oops I can't remember! I loved our invites. They felt both Mexican for the destination and Indian for my heritage. Everyone loved them and said how pretty they were.

STDs from Vistaprint - you can't beat their prices!

Seating plan for reception

Dan's suit - he looked so handsome. I know it was hot but I am glad he was wearing it!

Friend as Reverend - This was wonderful! It made the ceremony mean that much more and he was a source of strength (to not cry!) in front of us.

Microphone for ceremony. I definitely think people would not have been able to hear us if we didn't have it. We had it up on a stand and it picked up all three of our voices.

Readings by friends - again made the ceremony feel very personal.

Weight Watchers - helped me lose the pounds I needed to not feel gross!

SKIPPING IT WOULD BE OK:

Magnet STDs (small size) - these were just overkill since we mailed out postcards.

Fancy wedding night lingerie - OK so I ended up buying beautiful but expensive lace "bridal" lingerie. I think I ended up buying it more for me (to keep since my dress is sold) but to be honest it was really unnecessary! Dan wouldn't have known the difference if I was wearing something cute from Target!

Palm fans - I didn't really see anyone using these but then again I wasn't down there before the wedding so it's possible they were...

[TammyB]

Hmm well I love cake, and I made everyone eat some because the individual cakes were alot of money. BUT with that said I would have been just as happy with cupcakes because one individual cake could have fed three people and cupcakes are easier to transport back to your room

[gkashmira]

Originally Posted by TammyB

Hmm well I love cake, and I made everyone eat some because the individual cakes were alot of money. BUT with that said I would have been just as happy with cupcakes because one individual cake could have fed three people and cupcakes are easier to transport back to your room

I tried to send cupcakes back with people (we even had containers for them) but I think people were just too full and too drunk to think about them. The next day they wanted them though (now that it was too late!)

[TammyB]

Kash we had SOOO much left over cake that we ended up throwing most of it out. Everyone "maybe" ate a quarter of their cake or shared one and kept one. They really were too big..

[PaulaV]

I did wonder about the palm fans ... I am debating about buying them.

I wanted to buy some bulky stuff now as we may be going to Mexico City soon. I can leave them with my friend there to send to the resort before the wedding.

[kay726]

Ok.. here I go

What I would do again:
1. Do a petal toss with silk petals. It looked really nice in our pictures.
2.Order a J.Crew dress for my wedding. It was a great quality dress and inexpensive.
3. Order alot of wedding supplies and jewlery from ebay and oriental trading. Affordable and easy.
4. Use Angelsaccent.com. The silk flowers came out beautiful and I have them for the rest of my life.
5. Use Aria and Coren Moore for my bridesmaids dresses. They came out great.
6. Air Jamaica was fun and provided good food.
7. Fans from oriental trading were very , very useful as it was hot as hell in Jamaica.
8. My guestbook from the guestbookstore.com was a nice touch and everyone filled out the pages.
9.I would definately get the steel drum band again. They added a really nice touch.


What I would not do again
1. STD magnets-although everyone thought they were cute, everyone still pretty much forgot the info for the wedding.
2.Custom Unity candle with picture- My guest could not really see the candle and did not really care to much. We ended up not being able to light the candle because it was to windy. It ended up making the ceremony longer which was not good because it was so hot in the Jamaica sun.
3.Scheduled our arrival the same day as our guests because things got hectic and we were torn between spending time with our guests and finishing wedding planning.
4. I would not try to plan a wedding while in graduate school. It is to much work to do both and something ends up getting neglected for the wedding. I literally had my last class the day before I flew out to Jamaica. INSANE!
What I wish I would have done
1.Hired a professional photographer instead of relying on Sandals photogs.
2. Brought candy for guestbags and personal consumption. It is hard to come by in Jamaica and customs did not check bags so it would have been easy to bring.
3.Brought an extra bag and payed extra for more reception supplies so that it could have been decorated like I would have liked. I didn't do that and ended up not having the reception look that I wanted.
3.Changed hotels after the wedding because the resort began to become a little boring.

[starchild]

Great thread Kash! Here's mine, more good than bad I guess:

I WOULD DO IT AGAIN:

STD magnets/postcards/invites - all were designed to match our theme and sent months apart, it helped keep our slacker guests interested and on the ball

Puerto Vallarta - Beautiful, romantic, feels like Mexico of days past but with modern conveniences. Nothing like strolling along the cobblestone streets in the moonlight......ahhh

Arrive before most guests & leave after guests depart - the calm before the party storm was a blessing, and having time post-wedding to enjoy PV without entertaining was sweet

Dreams PV - awesome beach, spacious suites, delicious food, would go again in a heartbeat

WD at Barcelona Tapas - truly almost as much fun as the wedding, food was superior to the wedding, service was impeccable, views were the essence of PV

Las Caletas - Our jungle wedding was the perfect choice for us, dreamy and private - having no lookie-loos was a big bonus

Bubbles & Program Fans - Yes!! Throughout the ceremony bubbles were floating in the air thanks to our guests, it was awesome. Everyone used the fans to beat the heat, and we put our favorite love poem on the back with a thank you letter.

Barefoot party - Both of us and all of the wedding party were barefoot, in the end guests were barefoot too. We wear shoes everyday....go barefoot when you can!

Foot jewelry - Loved it! And I don't know when I can pull that off again. A big hit.

Cake - It was affordable and yummy! We had other desserts but almost everyone had cake with their coffee and kahlua. I'm glad we did it, there aren't many occasions in life where you buy yourself a fancy cake.

Skipping toasts - My father spoke for like 2 minutes and that was it. So glad we did this! Every guest did an individual toast for the videographer, in private, so it didn't take away from the party and we got blessings from each person there - even guests of guests.

Singalong - Yes a singalong, to That's Amore. What can I say we're Italian so we planned this out, but everyone got into it and people were rocking left to right with glasses in hand.....maybe you had to be there :o)

Fire Dancers - So worth it! Nobody knew they were coming and it was great entertainment for the non-dancers.


I WOULD RECONSIDER:

Videographer - It was decent, it's a concise version to show people who weren't there I guess. The guests' toasts were the only significant thing. He stopped taping after the fire dancers and there was still 2 hours of reception after that. But 3 guests took their own videos and they were so much more enjoyable. They taped the WD, boat ride, ceremony, and the whole night, didn't cover up conversations with music, etc.

No break between wedding & honeymoon - We flew from PV to LAX for a 4 hour layover then flew straight to Montego Bay. We were too excited to see a bad side then, but in retrospect having even a few hours to go home and unload some of our excess baggage would have been nice.

Guest accomodations - If we didn't present so many options maybe more guests would have stayed at Dreams. It would have been fun to have everyone there at night, especially since non-guests are not allowed on site. But then again we had a cozy amount of guests there without being overwhelming so maybe I wouldn't change this? Undecided.

Length of reception - We extended it but I wish we had at least another hour. Even the little kids could have partied through the night.


Advice - Don't obsess too much over the dress, you'll drive yourself and everyone around you nuts! I picked the 2nd dress I tried on and didn't see it again until 5 days before the wedding ,it almost wasn't ready in time and I was just going to buy something white in Mexico because I just wanted to marry my love. It came, but I changed into a $60 white sundress when I got hot and honestly that would have worked just as well for the whole thing.

You'll feel beautiful on your wedding day no matter if your dress costs $50 or $5000. When it's all said and done someone may say "her dress was beautiful" but that means nothing in terms of your marriage.....just a little perspective if you're freaking out about "the" dress. Focus on your man...lol