April 2010 Brides

ebredhawk -- about the wedding dress. my mom works for the airlines and said it is better to actually see if your wedding shop can pack it in a carryon suitcase. I know that might be a little tricky given other potential items you want to carry, but she said the closets they want to hang them in are a little sketchy.

My dress is pretty big and they said it was no problem to pack it in a suitcase. I knew I would be steaming it one way or the other.

my other thought about a garment bag is that if it got laid down in the overheads somebody might put a suitcase on top of it which would freak me out!

Good luck! I get my dress in the suitcase Monday or Tuesday so I can try to let you know if it seems do-able.

Down to my final "to do" list for tomorrow since we leave Friday! One little project left and I'll be ready to head out the door with everything. Thankfully some family has offered to take a few things for us since we're flying Air Transat and the baggage allowance is very minimal, that reduced my stress to just a tiny fraction. The only thing that freaks me out is walking down the aisle - all those eyes on you! Hoping I can hold it together.

Glad to hear that other hiccups everyone was having seem to be working out in their favor, looking forward to seeing all the pictures after (still have to research posting pics myself).

Hope you're all enjoying your last minute preparations. I'm looking forward to my mani/pedi tomorrow but not so much the waxing! LOL

with regards to the dresss - my wedding shop had a travel box that is airline restriction approved (size acceptable for hand luggage) and they are packing it for me into this

in the uk they have this option available in most shops as it is common that people want to take their dresses as hand luggage

hope everyone is a little more prepared than i am i still have not started my packing xx

thanks for the carry-on input, ladies!! thankfully i couldn't care less if someone puts their luggage on top of my dress since it's already wrinkly and doesn't have a stiff corset top or anything. i just didn't want to get the airport with my dress bag and have them tell me it was too big or something! i'll definitely ask if they have any travel options when i go for my final fitting next wednesday!

good luck to everyone who is leaving soon!!

Hi all, made it home and now the countdown is on!

Erin- I just took my dress across country in the bags that it came in from the dress shop and it was fine. I doubt you'd need anything fancier- plus everyone knew what it was and we got to board early for each plane (we had to take three to get here- yikes). They didn't even count it as a carry on, and no one even blinked at the size. I think you'll be fine.

Had my final fitting today, and FI got his suit. Now we can finally relax and start enjoying our vacation!

Hope everyone is hanging in there- it won't be long for the rest of us now!

Hi everyone!!! I'm baaaaack! Sending best wishes to everyone yet to leave and can't wait to hear about everyone's adventures. Our trip was lovely. Not everything went perfect or according to plan, but it was overall fabulous. I wrote a ton of info in the Riu RM thread since most of it was resort-specific.

Erin, regarding the dress the airlines are really accommodating if you carry it in the dress bag. I waited for general boarding and they even told me I should have gotten on earlier with the "children and special needs passengers" to take my time getting situated, haha! I hung it in the closet on the first flight and in a compartment on the connecting flight (watched like a hawk to make sure noone threw a bag on top of it). On that way home I folded that sucker up and (delicately) crammed it into the front pocket on a suitcase. Why not? I don't plan to wear it again!! It was much easier to travel with it this way

The weather was fabulous. Don't worry yourself with looking at the forecast: ours called for 30% chance thunderstorms every day and let me tell you- I didn't see a single cloud in the entire sky for 6 days strait.

Wear your sunscreen!!!!!! My sister fried in the design of her bathing suit, and it looked less than spectacular when she put on her strapless dress for the wedding, haha.

MAKE FRIENDS!!! I was planning on paying to have my makeup done but I met a lovely girl who worked at Clinique and she offered to do it for me and me sister. She did an amazing job and it was so much fun taking her up on it! We were great friends by the end of the trip! ... I had a night when I cried too (Tracy, you're not alone)- I needed help assembling welcome bags, etc, and I couldn't get anyone to help me bc they were too busy enjoying their own vacation. Funny how your new friends may do more for you than the ones you brought with you... We ALL have some mega friends/family drama, isn't that for sure. My bridesmaid situation was a disaster (and that wasn't the end of the drama), but in the end I didn't lose sight of the day being about my handsome groom and I. Like I said, not everything went exactly according to plan but overall it was pretty darn awesome.

We got NO sleep, came back utterly exhausted and are now talking about taking a real HONEYMOON! It was a great wedding but there wasn't a sliver of honeymoon in that mix, haha!

Awe Kimmy, I'm so glad to hear that you had a wonderful time despite the glitches - and I'm sure there's more to that story from what I read in the tone of your writing! ;o)

Good to hear that you met a bunch of friends too!! Sometimes the best friends come out of what you least expect!

Can't wait to see all your pics, and read what you wrote on the Riu thread, looks like an interesting before bed read!!

It's been pretty quiet on this thread lately, since most of the Chattiest Cathy's have already left for their DW's, but a few of us have been trying to keep it a float!!

Well hello all! So we did it! April 1, 2010 and the Gran Bahia Prinicpe Jamaica and let me tell you...it was FANTASTIC! Beverly was amazing, the resort is beautiful and the gazebo is even nicer in real life! We were upgraded when we got there to the bridal suite and OMG the view and the room were amazing. We met with Beverly the morning after we arrived for about 45 minutes and planned the entire thing! We had the private dinner reception with bar and dance floor and DJ in the Italian Restuarant and we got to chose the menu and cake when we arrived, along with the flowers. I also had the steel drum band play for us and then they had a champange reception following the ceremony. I couldn't have been happier. It was the perfect wedding day! We brought a CD with the music on it for first dance and entrance song (Spirit of the west) and the DJ was right on que with everything. I let him play what he wanted at the reception and he took requests. It was seamless. If anything did go wrong I didn't hear about it, Beverly took care of everything and Tim and I just enjoyed our day. After the wedding we went back to our room to find rose petals everywhere, some great towel art and a bubble bath in the jacuzzi tub with more rose petals!! The girls dresses were pink and from RW&Co and the guys shirts were royal blue from Tommy Bahama. We brought our own wedding photographer and hair and make-up artist with us and it was all great! Kimmy, sorry to hear you had drama, I had major bridesmaid drama but that was before we left and I just replaced her with someone much more worthy of the title. I'm sure your day was fantastic and in the years to come you will only remember the happiness you felt that day and how great your groom looked I'm sure.

Good luck to the rest of you who are still awaiting your walk towards your future! I hope all of your days are as perfect as mine was!