Sarah

Thank you for posting your info, welcome to the forum!

Quote: Originally Posted by NATASHA I just saw this in someone's wedding review on the Yahoo groups site so I thought I would pass it along. This was someone who sourced their flowers through Dreams. Flowers......A (I saw a tag on the box that they came from city club (?) The other place in mexico like costco but does not require a membership. The price was quite a bit less then the hotel was charging (she could have taken the sticker off) sooooo I am sure you could get them yourself and save some money. Good to know...I plan to check out that stuff when we got back for our second site visit!

Ooh I just checked it out. Those look really nice! Can't wait to see yours:)

Do you have outside contact info? Website, etc?

Quote: Originally Posted by TOESNTHESND We rent too, but I have been renting since college so I guess I don't know what I am missing out on yet. We started looking at some condos in Scotts Valley for around $550,000. That will be the focus after the wedding, since we want to have kids soon. Although things could look up after we get married. Kevin's dad is about to retire and said he would help us get into our first place. I just keep my fingers crossed! Oh my goodness, I feel so sad for you girls! It must be so hard to have such expensive housing. You must make a lot more money though, I'm guessing. There is no way in a bajillion years I could afford a house for that kind of $$

Quote: Originally Posted by carolj Yeah, it was the casitas that sold me! How cool is that? It snowed yesterday and today - I want to go now! Hi Carol, where are you at in Michigan? I'm in Lansing and yes, it is very cold!

lol too funny Stephanie. Isn't that scary what your brain can come up with? I actually had my first wedding nightmare Wednesday night. I dreamed that when my guests and I got to Cabo, we couldn't get to Dreams becauset here was a hurricane and the roads were flooded over, so we ended up at a resort that wasn't on the beach and was in terrible condition. Then, we had budgeted for 30 people and we ended up with more than 150, so there was no place for people to sleep, no food for everyone and none of my vendors knew where to find me since I wasn't at Dreams so I had no pictures. My dress had been shipped ahead of time (!) and was no where to be found. I woke up in a panic!

MariaElena, your pictures are gorgeous! I love your details like the boquet and the starfish and the decor at your reception was so beautiful. You and Dave look so happy together, you can totally see the love in your pics. Congrats- and great pics!

Quote: Originally Posted by RAENJAY You have to remember that I'm in Charlotte, it's not so expensive here. That's the only downfall if we move to Charleston, it's SO expensive there that we'll have to downgrade a lot... Sarah ~ cute place.... Can't tell for sure but the door looks red - I love a red door... Houses are definitely less expensive on this side of the country! Yes, my door is red. It's one of my favorite things about the house. That and the fireplace which is going right now since it's soooo cold!

Beautiful pics Raina! I love the sunset pics and the ceremony the best. There's also a cute one of you and your honey right on the beach- very nice! Your love and emotion really shows through. Congrats!

Quote: Originally Posted by RSL2010 I'm finally back! I don't think we've downloaded any of our pics from the Palmilla yet, but I will have the hubby get on that... He got a deal from his travel agent that does a lot of entertainment bookings there and at Las Ventanas so she was able to get us a $500 rate at either place. We ended up getting a double upgrade so we were in a beach front junior suite terrace room (which, if you look on the website is the 5th of the 10 levels of rooms). It looks like the rooms are more expensive on the weekends, so I think we probably got a better rate and the double upgrade because it was during the week. As we were leaving on Thursday we saw tons of people checking in and it looked like people were there for a wedding. I think you get all of the amenities no matter what type of room you are in (I have already been trying to plan a return trip), so I think any room would be fabulous. The spa was amazing and we had dinner the last night at Charlie Trotter's "C" and did the tasting menu - it was also fabulous. My hubby also joined the "Leading Hotels of the World" club, which was free, so I'm not sure if that also helped up get the upgrade. Congrats Raina! Can't wait to hear your review!

You're not guilty Tammy, just convicted of being helpful! I think the poll is a great idea for this thread. Thanks

Quote: Originally Posted by SASSYGIRL Sarah I agree that your dress made you look great! When I looked at the pictures I was like - 20 pounds - yeah right! Did you buy it already or are you holding off for some reason? If so how long will it take to get and what was the approx price? (if you are comfortable sharing!) Again, it looks great on you and I think it is very pretty and Cabo-ish! Aww, thanks Sarah! I bought it right off the rack at Bridal Gallery in Grand Rapids, MI (just in case there are any GR brides out there, here's the link) http://www.bridalgallerymi.com/. Trisha was my salesperson and she was wonderful. They had a variety of different dresses at this store, no major designer names, just the basics. But at this point, I just wanted something that looked good and make me look even better! Most dresses I have tried on just made me feel like I was wearing a dress that was made for someone else, some dresses made me feel like they were wearing me! I feel like Goldilocks- this one was "just right". I bought it that day for $495, paid $245 for the veil (can you believe that- the veil cost half the price of the dress) and took it home with me! She said if I'd ordered from them it would take approx. 3-4 months to get the dress in. Since I'm 6 months out, I just bought it so I wouldn't have to worry about it. The store was kinda like David's, where they had alot of stuff you could buy off the rack, but some you had to order. Any luck in your search yet?

Quote: Originally Posted by RAENJAY Here it is, home sweet home. Anyone looking to move? It may be on the market soon. Wow Stephanie- that at gorgeous! Here's mine:

Thanks for the review. I agree that it is so hard to change resorts. When on our site visit we moved from the Presidente Intercontinental to the Riu and it was so hard to compare the two because they are so totally different! Anyway, I'm glad you had fun- good to have you back home safely. Now you better at least stick around for a while and visit us every now & then!

I love both of the dresses you posted for me Tammy. In fact, I was planning to go this weekend down to the Demitrios store to try them on. Now that I found my dress though, I'm going to stop looking because I know I can always find something I like better if I look longer. I don't have a clue what (if any) name my dress is, I just loved it!

I think I gave you this link before, but here's another place to buy the real thing for a discount: www.preownedweddingdresses.com Here's your dress, but in white:http://www.preownedweddingdresses.com/listing/1441.htm Here it is again (ivory): http://www.preownedweddingdresses.com/listing/1627.htm These dresses are in the $2500 range. Much better than full price! Honestly, I would probably go this route as my first choice. I think part of having a designer dress is the "designer" part. After thinking about it for awhile, I don't know if I would be as happy if it wasn't the real deal.

Very cute! I'll have to remember this for the welcome dinner:)

Quote: Originally Posted by akh I don't know - I didn't actually add the poll! lol I am more just looking for anyone that has used this women (Bridal Dresses 4 You), or anyone else that makes great knock offs! Hehe, I bet Tammy has her hand in this! She's everywhere!

I would never have guessed Tuscany. I was thinking the Cayman Islands or something like that.

Ann, you might want to make your poll more clear. Does the "yes" mean knock off or real thing? Maybe change yes and no to real or knockoff...Just a suggestion...

I said maybe. Ann, when I was looking into using this dressmaker for that dress (I still love it, but just wasn't sure the lines would be right for me) I seem to remember there being a return policy, let me go look... ...OK it says "We will accept returns on new non-altered wedding dresses. Refund will only be issued for dresses in original shipped condition, unworn, unaltered, and with all packaging. We will accept returns on merchandise that is damaged or defective. All returns must be within 3 calendar days of when the shipment was dropped off from the carrier. You must notify us by email that you would like to return the dress and you must have a return authorization number from us before you return the dress. All returned dresses will have a 50% restocking fee applied from the full purchase price of the dress. In addition you will be responsible for any shipping fees, transaction fees and insurance fees. You have to ship the returned merchandise within 2 days after you have obtained a return authorization from us. All returns dresses must be received within 8 days of receipt of the authorization number. " So, if that dress is something like $600, you could look at it as a $300 gamble. if you love it, then you've saved yourself several grand, if not, you're out 300 bucks. If I really loved that dress and had tried it on and it was "the one" and I was 100% sure, I'd think about trying the knock off. A $300 gamble to save more than $3,000 sounds good to me. I would first ask for more detailed pictures, close-ups and stuff that you could use to really compare the quality to the designer dress. Good luck!

Quote: Originally Posted by host they crack me up...i have jackie onassis as one sis and marilyn monroe as the other. So what star are you? Actually, it's funny because Jeff & I were watching Lucky Nember Slevin the other night and Lucy Liu is one of the stars. Jeff says "Hey, that actress looks like your friend Tammy online". I thought that was really cute, mostly because he remembered what you look like. I didn't think he was actually paying attention when I was showing him pictures of weddings and stuff. Too funny...

Welcome Tanya! I hope all of your plans go smoothly.

Quote: Originally Posted by NATASHA How funny that we're all thanking Juan for finishing Wendy's pictures! We truely are there for each other - even spurring on each other's vendors! Thanks Juan! I love teamwork! Although, if Juan is taking this long it must mean that there are so many good ones to choose from! hehe, I am so excited Can't wait to see them