NATASHA

Ha Ha - you all will one day know what agony it is to wait for the damn pro photos. Rebecca, that photo that I posted was #503! We weren't even through cocktail hour at that point. Wow - that's a lot of photos for Dino to go through! Shawn and I actualy wrote our own ceremony - start to finish - so we decided not to have the judge and just have Maye officiate. I loved it. I never really thought about getting married much as a kid, but I remember (now, after the wedding) once when I was a teenager sitting at a long, boring wedding thinking, "these things are all the same and they're getting preached to instead of saying what they are actually agreeing to - why don't people do their own?'' Now I'm really glad we went the route we did. The whole thing. Having it in Mexico, being barefoot on the sand, really limiting the guest list to our close friends and family... That's the only ceremony I would have wanted.

It wasn't me it was Dino - He's teasing ME!

That's sort of my feeling too. I think Shawn looks good. He said he was picking up the prints tomorrow and mailing everything to me. I HOPE there is expediency between the mexican postal service and the US postal service!

OK ladies - he sent me a teaser photo and said the rest are on the way. I think I look silly in this - but he was going for a different kind of look and I love the composition, so I'm sending it along to you all. AHHH! I am DYING to see the full set. I had to compress the heck out of this so I hope it works OK.

I didn't. I thought I was saying something more meaningful, but it just made my guy REALLY nervous. After he proposed (it was very lovely - he said some really beautiful things and I thought he deserved something meaningful from me), I said, "I never imagined being someone's wife, but now I know that I wouldn't want to spend a day without you." He said, "I'm looking for verbal confirmation - does that mean yes?" with a little quiver to his voice and he was tearing up which made me tear up. Anyway - we were discussing this last weekend with our friends after he said that the ONLY appropriate response is a flat "Yes" and that every parent should make that as clear as possible to their daughters. It was funny.

Such great advice from everyone. Hang in there!

So awesome. My husband did a similar thing - he had organized a surprise birthday party for me (my birthday was several days earlier, but it was mid-week, sooo) and then he surprised all our guests by telling them that he had asked me to marry him earlier that day. We waited until someone spotted the ring before telling them, though. It was SO fun! What a thoughtful man you have to have wanted to put together this really special memory for the two of you and your whole family.

Natasha - I (this Natasha) did the same thing. I either wear my engagement ring: or my wedding band (this is actually a really pretty ring but this image is awful!) But I don't ever wear them together. Also, my Ering is still way too big even though I had it sized once. I just don't have time to deal with it, though!

Hi Ann, She's here in SD. Would you mind sharing her pricing with me? My friend is looking for a new photographer to shoot her family shots. Thanks!

My bridesmaids jumped in the pool in their gowns toward the end of the evening. It was very funny. Too bad the photographer was gone. I don't think we got any photos. Day after sounds cool. Maybe there's another way of thinking about this. Maybe you find a very inexpensive dress that you wouldn't have to alter but still gets the point accross. You could have a fun shot mid-air jumping into the pool or any number of those photos in the water. The guys clothes are still an issue, though. Especially since they can still wear them again.

My husban also read an article in the WSJ recently that ranked these and this was his recommendation after filtering through everything: MyPublisher | Design your own Photo Book to be printed as a beautiful hardcover book!

My dress did get trashed a bit (from dragging on the ground and from the soot from the fireworks), but it doesn't bother me a bit. Also - for those of you who might worry about this - we did shots sitting in the sand. That DID NOT get my dress dirty. Of course, the fabric will probably matter, but I thought I would pass this along. I wouldn't have wanted to take pictures in the water just because I wouldn't want to spend the rest of the ceremony wet.

OK - that was my husbands. It is the vow that we refer to the most frequently so far. Here's the catch - how do you define "split the difference?" You see, you can try to game the system and put it up to 80 if you want to settle at 72. HAHA - the controversy won't even go away when you VOW it!

Hmm - I don't know what to say. I'm using Powerpoint 2003 with Service Pack 2. Can anyone access it?

Sure thing - this is done.

You can replace each red berry sprig with one bougenvilla flower (meaning, one bougenvilla flowerrette per each sprig of berry)which is very easy to find in Cabo.

UGH I have been trying to find out who these people were! Maye was searching for teachers for a few months without luck. I mentioned it to Claudia at Casa del Mar and she knew of two sets so I booked the Cuban salsa teachers through her. They did bring along a pretty professional looking photographer who was taking pictures so I'm wondering if they are going to start marketing themselves. Well, I don't really want to pursue a conversation with Claudia to find out who they were, so I've been looking around... No luck. I did find this, though. Maybe you can call them and ask if they know of these two people and show them this picture? Havana, across from Costa Azul beach, is the home of salsa music, seafood and Cuban rums. With a good ocean view, Havana regularly features live salsa and Latin music on weekends and is open from noon-ish to 11 p.m., much later when the music's live.

So sorry - I do not. Maye booked them. Here's my advice about mariachi: -it's such a novelty, I don't think you're going to know a good mariachi from a bad mariachi. As long as they show up. -6 is too few, 10 is probably too big. Go for 8 -$500 to $550 per hour is PLENTY -If you have a coordinator - book through them so that the coordinator takes the risk/responsibility for them (or an alternate) showing up. If you don't have a coordinator, consider booking via the hotel so long as the price is reasonable. If it's more than $550 an hour, book it yourself.

Yep, I believe that Maye had them made. I paid $3 per chair to rent the chair bows and $6 per for 8 table runners.

No - this is in the Yucatan about 30 minutes away from Merida (the closest city).

This is one of the hotels we stayed at while on our honeymoon. Luxury Collection Tixkokob Hotels: Hacienda San Jose - Hotel Rooms at luxury.com These pictures DO NOT do this place justice. It is GORGEOUS. There were 5 places that you could set up the most romantic, beautiful garden wedding - just set out some chairs and you're done. The gardens are so beautiful you don't need flowers or probably even an arch. The restaurant area (there's a picture) is colorful and framed with arches and they have candles everyone so I wouldn't bother decorating that either. There's a small chappel, too. We stayed in the Mayan Villa (it has a bed suspended from ropes which was a neat novelty). I have pictures that I need to get from my husband, but for now I can say: a) best management and treatment by the staff that I have had in two years aside from La Casa Que Canta that I would rate equally great food c) really intimate d) a very unique, secluded place - I could see a celebrity getting married here without hassle. It is about 30 minutes drive from Merida (where you would fly in). We had this awesome driver that we paid via the hotel. He would take us to the pyramids (Chichen Itza is 45 minutes away and the Puuc trial is about 45 minutes in the other direction), etc. as we wanted. Merida is a big enough town that you could find photographers and the hotel would be helpful at helping you locate what you would need for an officiant, etc. Again, no need for flowers. The property is very large, but I think they have 15-20 rooms so this is best for a group of 30 or fewer.

We got married the Monday after our wedding in Cabo. I totally loved it and am glad I did it after vs. before. Bonus - the office that does weddings in downtown SD is on the water with a gorgeous view. However, it was really great because we had a totally different perspective. There were very interesting people there. The lady who filled out our paperwork (who was maybe 24) then took out a judges robe and zipped it up and led us into this funny little chappel like room. We went through this very short ceremony (no ring exchange). I almost laughed at one part - I don't know why, maybe because it was a bit kitchey and my husband just looked so cute. So - here is the benefit to after vs. before. The wedding is stressful. People are asking you all kinds of dumb things like, "I didn't get a rental car but now I think I want one, will you drive me to the airport?" or "I want to get a case of water, can I borrow your car to go to Costco - and where is Costco." So, it's such a fun time, the wedding is awesome, you're loving it, but you feel a bit like, "Wow, I'd like to do it over again so I actually remember it." So, we got that opportunity. Had we gone to the courthouse before the wedding, it would have been right when we were in the middle of the home stretch of planning, packing, rushing... This way it was totally kick back, we went for pizza later, we left on our honeymoon the next day, and we got to get married twice! My 2 cents.

Here's a good tip for those of you who are getting married in a month. Everyone else that's further out - you won't understand why you shouldn't try to do this now, but trust me - wait until you're one month out as your perspective on marriage will mature when you're looking down the barrel of it... Shawn and I were stuck in the car for 2.5 hours. We started talking about why marriage. Of course, we'd had that conversation countless times over the last 8 months, but this was a real "why marriage and what it means" thing. We delved into what it meant to us. What we think happens when marriages go bad. We also talked about what we were going to contribute as individuals, what we would do for ourselves as individuals, what we thought our personal strengths and weaknesses were vs. the other person, what partnership means, etc. Anyway, then we got to whatever family event we had to attend. That night, as we were getting ready for bed, we each repeated to the other person the top 5 things that came to mind from the conversation - those were what we thought really stood out as the most important and most immediately available to us both as they were top-of-mind. Then, we did the same top 5 things I remember thing a week or so later. After that, Shawn distilled it into the words you see above while I wrote the rest of the ceremony. So, yes ladies, my husband wrote our vows.

Quote: Originally Posted by AQHARIDER Christa- that is awesome! I wish I was that disciplined. I guess I should start now! I've been doing this for years and it is a really good idea - especially for people who aren't disciplined. After one month, you're used to it. You automatically adjust your spending habits based upon what is in your account. It doesn't have to be $500. $100 adds up really quickly - especially when you add in interest. But it really needs to happen automatically - don't think you're going to write yourself a check or move it to another account yourself. You won't. Also, for those of you who have 401Ks - PLEASE max them. Because they are pulling out the cash before taxes, you really don't notice a big hit and sometimes even end up with more than you would have because it is reducing the amount that they are taxing you on. Does that make sense? If you are paid $10 and have a 15% tax then your take home is $8.5. However, if you contribute $2 of that $10 to your 401K, your take home is $6.8 ($8 at 15%) plus the $2 that went into your investment/savings so your net take home is $8.8 which is MORE than it would have been before the contribution. Plus it's invested so it's growing. I get so frustrated here at work when our younger employees don't contribute or don't max out. It's so important and the sooner you start living off a bit less the quicker you adjust and have this very large pile of cash building up for your retirement. It helps you buy a house (you have an asset) and you can even borrow against it and pay yourself back in many circumstances. OK /end lecture

Here's a tip that I learned the hard way... Always have them provide you with the NUMBER of seats for each car/bus that they are quoting. You can get into a bit of trouble when they quote per person as they may be trying to cram more people in than is sound. We had 25 people in a 20 person van (estimate but I know it's close) because they didn't count children the same. Um - sorry, an 8 year old needs a seat. It was really scary.