April 2010 Brides

Your To Do list looks very manageable! I still have quite a few things left to do, but I think I will be able to get it all done. I did manage to get a few small random things checked off the list in the last few days such as:

- Order paper lanterns to hang from the ceiling of the reception restaurant (Paper Lanterns, Party Supplies and Chinese Paper Lanterns - PaperLanternStore.com)

- Order cups with logo on it (4imprint Promotional Products, Promotional Items, Advertising Specialties and Imprinted Promotional Products)

- Get earrings...but I might return them because they seemed like a bit too much when I tried them on at home with the necklace

- Get cheap waterproof watch from Target. Is anyone else getting this? I just remember never knowing what time it was when I was at 2 other weddings in JA, and just as a guest that drove me nuts. The one I got was $15, and actually kinda cute with light pink straps.

My full to-do list is just too long, but the major things are:

- Get escort cards (and matching table name cards and menu cards if I can find them)

- Decide on centerpieces...I can't get any cost info from the florist, very frustrating

- Pick out and order a cake

- Send the marriage application documents to the WC (will do that this week for sure)

- Order favors

- Seating chart (by table only, not by seat)

Your right, mine is pretty manageable, as long as I don't add anymore things to it lol.

You actually get to pick the cake before you go, amazing!

Wow you have a lot of guest coming, congrats!!!!

If I ordered the cake from the resort then I would have to wait until I got there to choose it, but we're most likely going to get it from an off-site bakery, if I get around to ordering it in time!

Yeah we definitely have a lot of guests for a DW, lol. I knew before we even started planning that between my dad and FI, neither of them like to leave out anyone, and just as I predicted the invitation list just kept growing daily, until it reached 280! That's one of the reasons I knew we had to have a DW, otherwise we would go totally broke trying to host all those people. Both of our families are from Jamaica so we still have a lot of people who want to go, since a lot of them haven't been back in a while or want to visit people while they're there. But still the numbers and cost are soooo much better than if we tried to do it at home.

Hope everyone had a good weekend! FI and got "married" on Friday, we've dubbed it our

'practice wedding' because he totally messed up! We were just chit chatting w/ the judge, telling him that we were doing a dw and just wanted this to be as non ceramous as possible, and he just looked at me and asked if I really wanted to marry him, and I said yea, and then he looks at Shawn and says, you want to marry her too? and he says "ya, I do" and then goes "no i dont!, I do, but no!" We wanted to save the whole "I do" part for Mexico so he totally messed up, and it was hilarous! Thank goodness that was our 'practice wedding'! The judge was in histerics!

My to do list...

=buy luggage

=send flip flop luggage tags to those coming

=pick up towels from embroiderer, buy a vacume seal bag and put these into so they take up less space, and another bag for all the fabric

=finalize jewlery

=find hair style (i have really thick and curly hair so this has been a challenge)

=pick out a cake online and email pic to wc

=keep tanning!!!!

=pick up rings from jewler (he's a friend so this shouldn't be a problem)

=email photographer list of must have pics

=determine photographer budget (still don't know if we'll have the $ to do ttd)

Please let me know if I'm missing anything! The only thing I care about is getting married and all the little details, like clothes, seem to pass me by!

you have all your 'something old, something new, something blue,something borrowed'?

Seems like you got it all!!

Looking good, your pretty much set!!!

Negril,

Wow that's insanze, 280 ppl, lucky you are having a DW lol. I'm so happy your getting a lot of people going, and they'll be able to visit home as a bonus!!!

Are you doing OOT bags? It'd cost a lot!!

When I originally booked my wedding in Ocho Rios, the wedding was going to be free... but it was the 'cake, and wine' that was $25 for everyone after the 6th guest (at that point we didn't know how many ppl were coming) I hope you got a much better deal!

Are you having a private reception?

hoyt75, brilliant idea to use a vacuum seal bag for the towels!

I so wish that I could do OOT bags for everyone - they look like a lot of fun to put together. But yeah, it would be really expensive and hard to bring all that stuff too. So I decided to just do the travel mugs, and have them handed out when they check in along with a welcome letter.

Hahaha I know what you mean about the 'free' wedding packages. It was so frustrating when I first started researching resorts because they tell you it's free but that's only if you get no frills at all and only have a few people attending. I like the resort we chose because they are pretty straight-forward with their pricing, but it's definitely not free. It's $18 pp for the wedding set-up and dinner, and $8 pp/hr for open bar. It adds up, but it's still going to be less than half what it would cost to have it at home, and that wouldn't even be on the beach or somewhere that nice. So that makes me feel better Yup, we're doing a private reception, and we're bringing a friend down to be the dj.

Looks like your bachelorette party was fun!

My FI's brother also had a dw and they had about 100 guests as well, which I totally cannot imagine! At their resort if you went OVER a certain number of people then your entire wedding package was free so they had it easy.

Jenna - that's a really good idea about getting the vacuum packages for your towels! I really liked that idea but wasn't sure how I'd have gotten them all packed so you answered that question!

All of your to-do lists seem so easy right now compared to mine! Maybe it's because I haven't written out an updated one recently enough but all I keep thinking is how much I still have left and how little time I have to get it all done. I'm always so busy in the evenings that it just doesn't leave me time to get much accomplished.

This weekend is a write-off as well since I've got my stagette all day Saturday and through the evening. My sister (and MOH) has been working SO HARD to get all of it planned and then yesterday I nearly called off the whole thing. FI got back from his boys weekend and lets just say that it did not go over well for me. I'm in a seriously bad place with a whole bunch of our friends right now (the guys who planned his weekend) but am stuck because all their effort really meant a lot to FI. If our wedding was a week away I probably wouldn't even want them there. It's that bad. BUT I'm working on sucking it up because of how important it was to FI and so the show must go on - which means for me too! The girls were all keeping it a surprise but yesterday my sister told me because she was just too excited! Haha! We're going to play PAINT BALL and then go to her house and get cleaned up, hot tub, get ready for dinner and then go ROLLER SKATING!!!!! Both of those were my suggestions/requests for events to do and I get them BOTH so I'm really pumped. We're all dressing up in 70's costumes for roller skating too so it should be pretty funny to see everyone.

Tracy - I've been thinking about the something new, old, borrowed and blue... Our colors are navy blue and white, and I'll be carrying a bouquet of white calla lilie's and the stems will be wrapped in navy blue ribbon, so that takes care of the blue. Something new is the the new life together. Something old will be my grandmothers wedding band that my mom is giving to me on our weddind day. I'm a little stuck on the something borrowed part. What are you girls borrowing?? Any suggestions??

So I got kicked off the list again...

April 2010 Brides

April 1 - (adelaide) Claire from Ontario - Occidental Grand Xcaret

April 3 - (hoyt75) Jenna from Fort Worth - Valentin Imperial Maya

April 7 - (ewok) Julie from Montreal - Couples Swept Away

April 9 - (kimmyg) Kimmy from Cincinnati - RPRM

April 9 - (Chicken764) Martine from Casselman - Grand Palladium-Punta Cana

April 10 - (jerseykitten) Michele from Jersey (Central Jersey by Six Flags) – Jamaica

April 10 - (taratoons) Tara from Ottawa ONT - Dreams Punta Cana

April 12 - (bridej9) - ______ from MI - Dreams Puerto Aventuras

April 13 - (CaribbeanLover) From Montreal, Grand Palladium in Punta Cana

April 16 - (echo2_62) Meghan from Calgary - Dreams Puerto Aventuras, Mexico

April 17 - (taylorwd) Wendy from Austin - Azul Beach, Mexico

April 17 - (amcarter) Alex from Houston - Reserva Conchal - Costa Rica

April 17 - (NegrilLB) Lisa from Atlanta - Iberostar Rose Hall Suites - Jamaica

April 19 - (Sasse75) Jill from Hamilton, ONT - Grand Sunset Princess

April 22 - (taraappl) Tara from Coon Rapids MN - Isla Mujeres, MX

April 24 - (jess3414) Jessica from Phoenix, AZ - Dreams Cabo San Lucas

April 24 - (katie424) Katie?! from Denver, CO - Beaches Negril

April 24 - (vgirl17) Veronica from Vacaville, CA - Moon Palace Resort - Cancun, MX

April 25 - (shortnsweet7675) Natasha from Atlanta, GA - Miami, FL (Carnival Glory Eastern Caribbean cruise)

April 26 - (HereFishie) Cheryl from Edmonton Canada - GBP Coba, Mayan Riviera

April 28 - (ebredhawk) Erin from Cincinnati - Dreams Punta Cana

April 28 - (Melidell) Mel from NWT - Melia Las Dunas, Cuba

April 29 - (SuzyQ76) Suzanne from Calgary, Grand Riviera Princess, Mexico

...so I added myself back on

Jenna ~ we are honeymooning at the Valentin from April 3-10. Maybe we will catch a glimpse of your wedding! So exciting!

So, I am now 18 days away from the start of our vacation and am slowly finishing up everything.

SO EXCITED NOW!

Meghan- sorry to hear about the state of things with FI's friends. Sounds like your stuck between a rock and a hard place there- I hope things get better before the wedding.

Tracy- glad to hear the bachelorette went well!

I don't have much left on my to-do list.

- Shopping (when we're in Halifax) for some more things to wear while we're in Cuba

-FI's suit (also just getting this in Hali when we get there)

-print out programs and menu and add ribbon (they're all ready to go, just waiting until the last minute in case anything changes at the resort end)

-tie welcome tags/ thank you tags to favours and welcome gifts. (My mugs are in NS so I'll have to do this at FMIL's house the weekend before we leave- but she'll probably help me with it and she's really good at that sort of thing).

-finalize our Ipod playlist- this is almost done, just tweaking it now

-I need a necklace to wear with my dress and I can't decide whether to order it now or to buy it in Halifax.

I'm still waiting for a few things that I've ordered to get here in the mail, too. My hair combs, parasols for MH and myself, my ring bowl, some rose petals, a silk pocket square for FI, a floral brooch for MOH, a T-shirt for FI (just a joke gift) and my wedding night lingerie . I love getting things in the mail!