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It's been awhile since I posted a blog so I thought I would give an update. My fiancé and I decided that we were going to do the 'legal' wedding in Texas and have the symbolic wedding in Mexico. We found a gorgeous chapel in the Texas Hill Country to have our outdoor ceremony at. I wore a short white lace dress with blue Kendra Scott earrings and cowboy boots here is a link to the chapel we got married at http://chapeldulcinea.org We got married on June 16, 2014 and it was perfect. We have paid our final payment for our photographer and for the resort. As it got closer to our due date our WC was very responsive. I've still thought of questions and she will respond the same or next day. I truly think they are very overwhelmed and put the most focus on the brides' dates that are quickly approaching. Be patient as it will all come together. We have finalized all our decorations and I'm so happy with every decision. We bought maracas to put on each guests' table setting at the rehearsal dinner. We bought them at amols.com We purchased pink, mint and white paper lanterns in different sizes to go in the gazeebo at the reception from http://paperlanternstore.com/ We found a variety of decorations for the reception tables at Michaels. I had a 50% off your entire purchase coupon and got everything for a great price. I bought sheers for the ceremony gazebo at http://www.tableclothsfactory.com/ We purchased two 40 yard bolts of fabric for $63. Finding icicle Christmas lights in the middle of the summer wasn't easy. We ended up ordering ours from http://www.christmaslightsetc.com The best part was booking our honeymoon. We are going to be in Mexico from Thr-Wed (getting married on Sunday). We are only going to stay 2 extra days after our wedding as we booked a 2 week honeymoon to THAILAND!!! I'm a traveler at heart and so excited to honeymoon in such an exotic country. I know I've said this in previous posts, but try and not let the small details stress you out. I had some personal things occur related to the wedding and I allowed it to stress me out.....AND....I got shingles 3 weeks before our wedding. I can laugh about it now, but it wasn't fun and Iooked horrible. This is brought on by stress. Not saying this would happen to you, but stressing is not worth it as everything will work out in the end. I can promise you that, as I'm 11 days out and counting, and it's all come together perfectly and I couldn't be happier.

Congratulations !

Working with Penny at Destination Weddings we learned that there are numerous advantages to booking. Not only would we be receiving perks through out TA, but the hotel as well. My advice to all brides is to research what perks are available to you! Some TA companies can offer more than others. The perks that we are getting have dramatically decreased the cost of our entire wedding. Here are aome examples of the perks that we are getting. 1. Our wedding package is called the Always and Forever and it's $950. If someone in our group stays 7 nights in a certain category room then that package is free. My parents are staying for 7 nights so $950 removed from our cost right away. This package includes our ceremony and set up, flowers and champagne in our room when we arrive, 2 for 1 sky massage, free candlelit dinner on the beach for the FI and I, breakfast in bed the morning after, and a few other things. 2. In our Always and Forever package it also includes a free group dinner for 40 ppl at the Spoon restaurant. It's $25 extra pp over 40. We are using this for our rehearsal dinner. 3. 20% of all food and beverage for private events. We decided on steak and lobster for our reception dinner. This is a 3 course meal with an open bar for 4 hours. Originally $26pp but with 20% off pp it comes to $20.8 pp. I could never have a wedding in Austin with steak and lobster for that cost! 4. For every 10 rooms booked we get the 11th 'free'. What I mean by free is after the wedding we receive a check for the cost of a room for 3 nights minus taxes. 5. Every room booked will receive a $250 resort credit. This is broken down into 5 $50 credits that can be used towards different things. Ex. Spa services or if the guest want to do a private candlelit dinner on the beach. 5. We did a webinar for Karisma resorts before officially booking our wedding and received a free room upgrade. Long story short we have since been upgraded to the honeymoon suite! Heck ya!! 6. Our most favorite perk.....a FREE catamaran rental for 4 hours for up to 40 people. I can not explain how happy I am about this one. To make it free we had to have so many rooms booked, but it wasn't many. The catamaran takes you snorkeling and provides the equipment. This perk also comes with a food and beverage credit. You can do just appetizers or have the boat take you to the beach for a full lunch. You can also use the credit for a bar on boat. Right now we are at an $800 food and bev credit but once we get one more room booked it will go up to $1200. Rule of thumb: Research your perks and take advantage of them!