A10CalGal

Quote: Originally Posted by gkashmira Tammy - why do you keep doing this to me?!? Now i want to get married there too! Looks gorgeous... Screw getting married there I WANNA LIVE THERE!! But Kash, I would totally still let you get married there

So, this I'm re-igninting this thread to share where I am with approx 6 weeks to go. Well, and also to get TammyM off my ass since I've been too busy with my "job" for her lately LOL! OK, so I invited 45 peeps, and I think we will ultimately have a total of 25. This is all guestimation at this point. None of my FI's side have RSVP'd yet. About half of my family has not RSVP'd yet either. All of my previously flakey friends have replied - YES! I got some suprise "no" responses from people that were 100% gonna come - I have no idea what's up. I'm sure it's something important, and probably private since my best friend from high school didn't even bother to give a phone call about her "no." I digress... Anyway, the beauty of having budgeted for 45 is that now I have been saving a sh*t load of money in anticipation of all of them, and I have lots of wiggle room now. I've decided on the filet & lobster dinner and 4 hours of open bar. I initially deposited $4K with Cabo Surf, and it looks like I'll only over spend that by a few hundred dollars, depending on our wine selection. Also, I'm going to spread some joy to all of the ladies that decide to join us in Cabo by hosting a mini-spa day in my suite the day before the wedding. I'm going to have Suzanne Morel's group come & do pedis for everyone. And then they can add additional services if they want. I think that will be fun! Janet - if you are out there, here is what I want to do for our reception setup instead of doing it in the restaurant. What do you think? Things I need to do: -Call my alterations lady & get things going with her. She said not to come in until one month before we leave for Cabo...now I"m getting nervous cuz it doesn't seem like enough time! -FI still needs to purchase his attire and attire for his oldest son who will be his best man. -We need wedding bands!!! AAAAHHHHHH! -I've started collecting my thoughts and gathering ideas regarding vows and how I want our ceremony to go (we're having a symbolic ceremony). Thank you to all the ladies that shared their ceremony & vow stuff, it's really helping! -I'm going to do a practice run in the next few weeks of making my bouquet's out of gerbera daisies. We plan to purchase bunches from Pamela Floreria and create our own simple arrangements...this is saving A LOT OF MONEY! -Buy the actual bags for OOT bags, and a few more items to go in them. -My bridal "cocktail party" is on Saturday! Is there anything else I'm forgetting??

So cute Christine!!

Quote: Originally Posted by anacgarcia here you go http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i2...am-black-1.jpg Dang girl, you are da bomb!! Not only can you decipher what people "really mean" in their posts, but your also a graphics whiz!

Quote: Originally Posted by anacgarcia here you go http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i2...am-black-1.jpg Dang girl, you are da bomb!! Not only can you decipher what people "really mean" in their posts, but your also a graphics whiz!

Janet - I am so totally stealing your letter! I was just going to start putting something together & I knew you must have had something posted...YES!

Very pretty Edyta! Goddess-like!

Amber, In my experience Cabo Surf has been very flexible regarding the room block situation in regards to any site fee. I blocked of 10 rooms in the begining & release them 60 days prior to my wedding date. I believe only 5 of the rooms were actually booked. There is supposed to be a $10 pp locations fee if a miniumum # of rooms aren't booked...I don't think they are going to make me pay that, they waived it sometime ago. So, point being, worse comes to worse you would pay a max of $350-400 location fee.

Tammy - you should still be able to leave your luggage in the lobby & hit the beach or pool right away if you want. I'm a pretty seat of my pants spontaneous gal while traveling, so I would say just do whatever you run into that looks interesting!

Ladies, If you are having trouble figuring out your income vs. expenses on a monthly basis, check out this worksheet...it's pretty simple & can help you figure out what you can realistically save.Attachment 373 budget worksheet.xls

I know I'm probably repeating myself, but I'll go ahead anyway! I highly reccomend AGAINST taking out a loan or going into debt for you wedding ladies! Don't start your married life by going into debt. Here's what I did: for the last several years I've done a lot of traveling. As such, I started an ING Savings account & saved a few hundred bucks here & there when I could - so I always had a vacation fund going. The account has averaged $2-3K balance over the last couple years. Once we decided to get married, I decided to make that account be for our wedding. I started putting all of my excess income in that account every 2 weeks. I'm able to save $1K per month. Basically I've gotten a few raises and my expenses didn't change, so I reasoned I should be able to save that additional money. I have rent, a car payment, utilities, insurance, grocery bills just like everyone else; and I am a shopper too! I realized by automatically transfering $x into my savings every month, I was forced to make decisions about reasonable spending. We do not own a home, which sucks, but we do pay rent. FI also has child support that he pays. In any case, I calculated what I would be able to save by our wedding date & have required myself to stay within that budget. Yes, I put my dress on my Discover card when I initially purchased it, but I payed that off within 2 months. I think it's ok to use your credit for purchases, but just committ to pay it off as quickly as possible. End of speech

Ok "tramp stamp?" this is just wrong! My fi alwasy says how he can't stand tatoo's on a womans low back like that...good thing I didn't get one there! I have one on my right ankle. It's a "tribal band" & I got it in college. I would actually like to add to it somehow with some color or something to make it a bit more unique. At the time I got it I thought it was unique because a friend drew it for me...I don't regret it or anything, I just wish it had more meaning.

That is really unique & beautiful! I love it - good job!

Well Amy, I think the manager is assuming all you want is the location. Are you considering NOT staying at Marbella? Maybe he is misunderstanding you? I think you could swing a great deal if you booked up the hotel -and their rates are actually pretty low for rooms. How many guests are you anticipating?? OOps, ok you answered my question above. I would explore other options then, because it doesn't sound like you are going to get very much cooperation out of the hotel if you only want the location with no lodging. What about food/bev?

Ditto what Janet said! I was just thinking I should have written more. I honestly think when places quote a "location fee" it assumes no other business is involved - just you using their site to get married & that's it.

Very good tip Glenda! I'm a sweater too Amy

Amber, Wow! My first reaction is that it sounds high. Do they charge a location fee even if you use them to cater the reception?

Like what kind of things are you talking about Glenda? For me, I had a savings account going & would pay for wedding expenses out of that. But I didn't really buy "things" - I made major purchases like: my dress, put a deposit down on our venue, bought airline tickets, bought a rehearsal dinner dress, MOH dress, coordinator deposit.

Quote: Originally Posted by JANET1111 Christa that is just like us! Where are you two cuties honeymooning? I'm going to have to refer you to my loving fiance - he's in charge of this aspect...so that would be a big DUNNO!!

We are moving to another hotel after our wedding night. Some people are staying in Cabo up to 5 days after the wedding. We wanted our friends & family to make a vacation out of this, so we really encourage people to stay. While we will go off to our honeymoon hotel after the wedding, we still plan on hanging out some with the people that stick around. My BF's 30th birthday is happening while we are there, so we will definitely go hoot & holler with her.

Wow girls, thanks for all of the valuable feedback. One of you hit it on the nose - I think that with my wedding so close & having so many other things to deal with/finalize, this is just one of those things I'd prefer not to have to put any thought into. I am going to email my MOH & mother right now to let them know that lingerie or spa gift certificates or CASH would be preferred. I guess I also need stuff like a guest book and toasting glasses for the wedding... Thanks again ladies! I really appreciate all of the insight.

Although more expensive, silk is very breathable too

Thanks girls. I hear what you are all saying. The original thing I said to my MOH was, "yeah, tell people to get me fun stuff like sexy lingerie, bathing suits, stuff like that." I guess I should just say it again...ARGH!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by akh good to hear! i need to mix it in with my cindy video - it's already getting a little repeatitive. i clearly have a short attention span. Says you to the woman with 3 internet explorer windows open!! Wholy ADD! I like to call it multi-tasking

Quote: Originally Posted by akh i haven't got my windsor tapes yet - so i haven't started. but i used to take pilates classes, and yoga, at the gym i belonged to. i loved it! i felt like i had a really strong core - hopefully i get the same feeling from the tapes. Ann - you will totally get that feeling back with Windsor, I promise! Even if you just do the 20 minute dvd 3 times a week, you should see results quickly. I don't know why I ever stopped doing that....