starchild

Jill I think that would be a lovely way to keep them included without making them feel worse )

Quote: Originally Posted by beachbride I sent my STD's to everyone, I really only sent invitations out to all family and friends that actually said that they were coming... I just didn't think it was reasonable to send invites to everyone, especially when they already made it clear that they weren't going.... just my two cents... I kind of also think that for the people who said no to the std's for financial or other difficult reasons, it kind of stinks to get an invite after it was hard enough to have to bow out the first time around. Of course this wouldn't apply to everyone, but we invited people who were wrenched with guilt about not being able to make it. I think sending them something again, a few months later, would kind of rub the salt in the wound or imply that their first "no" didn't settle well with us and maybe they can reconsider. If they reconsider on their own terms they know how to reach you. I don't know how much sense that makes but that's what I think )

Oops...I didn't. I sent everyone STD's saying to rsvp online, and explained that those who replied with a yes/most likely will attend would receive formal invitations a few months later. I only sent them to those people, it did save me over $200 in invites that I would have sent to people who either didn't reply or flat out said no early in the process. I did send one to my grandmother who lives out of the country as a courtesy, knowing she wouldn't travel so far. You could always send them to a few special people you don't want to exlude, but not to every person who says no.

Soooo good to hear!

Anny (anacgarcia) & Paula V

Quote: Originally Posted by Tlseege Sadly I LOVE Costa Maya. I would have my wedding there if it wasn't in the middle of no where. My aviator is actually taken in Costa Maya. It's so beautiful and I just want to cry for all of the locals there since I've seen the housing, the bars, the hotels and there is no way that any of it could have survived a storm like this. I'm sure the only thing that remains is the cruise port which is the most non native thing there. So sad. So sad indeed, and it looks so beautful there. Sometimes it seems that mother nature picks on the poor, I swear. No word of death thank God but there is certainly damage - it sounds like to the cruise port too: World to Costa Maya: Are you still there? There's growing buzz in cruise circles today over the fate of Costa Maya, the fast-growing cruise port south of Cozumel. The six-year-old hub appears to have taken a direct hit from Hurricane Dean, which roared ashore on the Mexican coast this morning with sustained winds around 165 miles per hour. "It's a big deal," says Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor of cruisecritic.com, who fears the port has suffered major damage. "Trust me, it won't be up and running tomorrow." Costa Maya has been one of the cruise industry's success stories in recent years. Carved out of the jungle in 2001, it has grown from nothing to become one of the most popular ports in the Western Caribbean. It offers berths for three ships and a man-made, private island-type experience with bars, restaurants, shops and pools, as well as excursions to nearby Mayan ruins. The irony, says Spencer Brown, is that "Costa Maya really took off (two years ago) when Hurricane Wilma slammed Cozumel, Playa del Carmen and Cancun, and ships had to quickly reshuffle their itineraries." Will today's storm bring a reversal of fortune? As cruisecritic points out, Cancun and Cozumel appear to have been spared the brunt of the storm and are already reopening their ports for ship arrivals later this week. So far, little information is getting out on Costa Maya's status. In a statement this afternoon, the destination's public relations firm said little more than that the port "was affected" by the storm. It said a crew is on the way to inspect the damage. But a spokesman for Carnival, which has five ships that call regularly at Costa Maya, sounded a more cautious tone. "We're still assessing damage at Costa Maya, but it looks like we will not be calling there for some time," Carnival's Vance Gulliksen told USA TODAY this afternoon. Spencer Brown says cruisecritic.com's database shows there are 26 ships scheduled to call regularly at Costa Maya this winter and next winter. World to Costa Maya: Are you still there? - The Cruise Log - USATODAY.com

I was married in PV 2 months ago. If you have any questions about anything PV related (or otherwise) I'm happy to help )

Here's what ended up happening with us when we landed in PV. We had some stuff spread out among other travelers, but basically had an entire mega-sized duffle bag with OOT stuff. We got a red light. We get to the inspection table and there are like 3 people working. So 2 of them start on our bags. The girl who was inspecting the duffle bag was on her cell phone and kind of halfway paying attention anyway. She did pick up things like the neck safes, playing cards, dominoes, etc. and look at them a second. The inspector next to her looked at it too, then asked me if I was getting married. I said yes and they zipped our stuff up and let us go. That was it, no hassle. Maybe we were lucky? Someone once mentioned being in Cabo I think and being asked for receipts to verify the value of the items. I don't know how common that is, or if Cabo is more stringent than PV, but we had no problems whatsoever. Leaving PV they inspect your luggage again, and I had some leftover trinkets that the lady inspecting thought were cute. She called another lady over to look at them and I asked her in Spanish if they had kids and wanted them. They did so we gave them 2 bags of stuff and lightened our load at the same time )

Quote: Originally Posted by weez My brothers walked me down the aisle and looking back I just felt so at peace with everything, it just felt like this was so right there was no point in being nervous! I was grinning at everyone like crazy and trying to make myself stop!(I do remember thinking after that I walked down the aisle too fast though! Just wanted to get there fast I guess! lol!) When I got to my husband to be he was a total wreck! Couldn't stop crying! (he has been duly teased about this ever since!) He was so nervous that when he was supposed to say I do... he practically yelled YES! After everyone stopped laughing we finished up without a hitch and were fine! Talk about role reversal! Funny that he was the one to lose it, but soooo cute at the same time! Quote: Originally Posted by lucky k72 I woke to the sun shining and just feeling so happy and calm. I had this feeling like I've never had in my life...absolute peace and certainy. It felt like my heart was wrapped in cashmere LOVE that! Isn't it the best feeling? Absolute peace and certainty is a great way to phrase it )

I thought I posted these before but I can't find them. They are 80s commercials I used to love. The first commercial stars a young Alfonso Ribiero and is my favorite 80s commercial of all time. The second one is also a classic. When I need a smile these always work for me....they don't make commercials like this anymore. Depending on your age you might find yourself flashing back to watching tv after school or on Saturday morning cartoon duty. You may even remember the words . . . P.S. Disclaimer - I am not Mormon promoting my church nor am I making fun of Mormons, I just think they put out some killer commercials that rocked ) YouTube - Who Broke My Window? YouTube - "Never Tell A Lie" (80's Mormon Commercial)

Those are major compliments coming from my 2 favorite fellow sarcastic people, Maria and Glenda...lol Love you guys

Oh yeah I agree with you, the money would be a godsend. I think it is cool that you have that tradition for sure, I just know here (because it's not tradition) people would be so against it, like the older generation where you are. Some of our friends may go to be nice, but my own parents would probably say no. . . lol I support any way you can party and get free money

The buck and doe party is blowing my mind! You Canadians are good, kind people!!! lol For real, most of my guests would either laugh and refuse to go or be offended and refuse to go. America missed the boat on that tradition (

Quote: Originally Posted by LALA My response to any comments like that has always been: To the married ones- "You had your wedding. Remember it? This is mine." To the unmarried ones - "You will have your own wedding someday. I will not try to plan a single element of it. I ask that you do the same." Okay I'm more sinister than I realized. . . yours are dignified. I was nice to the first 2 haters, then it turned into this: To the married ones- Don't hate on us because you had your wedding at a banquet hall (fill in the blank with the weak traditional place they chose) To the unmarried ones - If you find someone who actually wants to marry you one day I hope people put you through this bullshit too

Quote: Originally Posted by foxytv One side note .. there are some people we invited out of what we felt was purely bligation ... but since we haven't heard a peep from them since the STD's, email updates, Newsletters, etc -- which have all asked for a tenative RSVP or website response ... I might cut them from the formal invite list. Does this sound bad? Not to me, we did the same thing )

This is the latest: Roaring Hurricane Dean strikes Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, then storm weakens By Mark Stevenson, Associated Press Writer Article Launched: 08/21/2007 07:26:18 AM PDT FELIPE CARRILLO PUERTO, Mexico - Hurricane Dean slammed into the Caribbean coast of Mexico on Tuesday as a roaring Category 5 hurricane, the most intense Atlantic storm to make landfall in two decades. It lashed ancient Mayan ruins and headed for the modern oil installations of the Yucatan Peninsula. Dean's path was a stroke of luck for Mexico: It made landfall in a sparsely populated coastline that had already been evacuated, skirting most of the major tourist resorts. It weakened within hours to a Category 3 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph. The eye of the storm hit land near Majahual, a port popular with cruise liners, and it was racing across the Yucatan Peninsula toward a Tuesday afternoon entry into the Bay of Campeche, where the state oil company evacuated the oil rigs that produce most of Mexico's oil. In the largely Mayan town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto, at one point about 30 miles from the center of the storm, people stared from their porches at broken tree limbs and electrical cables crisscrossing the streets, some of which were flooded with ankle-deep water. Tin roofing ripped from houses clunked hollowly as it bounced in the wind whistling through town. "We began to feel the strong winds about 2 in the morning and you could hear that the trees were breaking and some tin roofs were coming off," said Miguel Colli, a 36-year-old store employee. "Everyone holed up in their houses. Thank God that the worst is over." With the storm still screaming, there were no immediate reports of deaths, injuries or major damage, Quintana Roo Gov. Felix Gonzalez told Mexico's Televisa network, though officials had not been able to survey the area. In the Quintana Roo state capital, Chetumal, the storm downed trees and sent sheets of metal flying through the air. At landfall, Dean had sustained winds near 165 mph and gusts that reached 200 mph - faster than the takeoff speed of many passenger jets. It was moving west-northwest near 20 mph across the Yucatan Peninsula. The hurricane killed at least 12 people across the Caribbean, picked up strength after brushing Jamaica and the Cayman Islands and became a monstrous Category 5 hurricane Monday. Sections of the Jamaican capital and the island's east suffered severe damage in the storm, and the country postponed Aug. 27 general elections. Only three Category 5 storms, capable of catastrophic damage, have hit the U.S. since 1935. Dean is the first Category 5 to make landfall in the Atlantic region since Hurricane Andrew hit south Florida in 1992. Thousands of tourists fled the beaches of the Mayan Riviera. Though expected to escape a direct hit, Cancun still could face destructive winds. "There's a lot of noisy wind now with this creature all over us," state civil protection official Francisco de la Cruz said from his hurricane-proof offices in Chetumal. The hurricane center said Dean could gain power as it crosses the Bay of Campeche and would likely be a major hurricane when it makes landfall a second time on Wednesday. The storm's track would carry it into the central Mexican coast about 400 miles south of the Texas border. "We often see that when a storm weakens, people let down their guard completely. You shouldn't do that," said Jamie Rhome, a hurricane specialist. "This storm probably won't become a Category 5 again, but it will still be powerful." At 7 a.m. EDT, Dean's eye was over the Yucatan Peninsula, 40 miles northwest of Chetumal. Meteorologists said a storm surge of 12 to 18 feet was possible at the storm's center, which could push sea water deep inland. Heavy rains threatened to inundate the swampy region. Petroleos Mexicanos evacuated all 18,000 offshore workers and shut down production rigs on the Bay of Campeche - resulting in a production loss of 2.7 million barrels of oil and 2.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day. On Tuesday, Dean threatened the Yucatan's most vulnerable population - the Mayan people - many of whom have seen little of the riches from oil or tourism, and still live in traditional wooden slat huts in small settlements all over this low-lying area. President Felipe Calderon said he would cut short a trip to Canada where he is meeting with President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and travel Tuesday to the areas where the hurricane was expected to hit. Trees fell and debris flew through the air in Corozal on Belize's northern border with Mexico. The government had evacuated Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye - both popular with U.S. tourists - and ordered a dusk-to-dawn curfew from Belize City to the Mexican border. Authorities evacuated Belize City's three hospitals and were moving high-risk patients inland to the nation's capital, Belmopan, founded after 1961's Hurricane Hattie devastated Belize City. Mayor Zenaida Moya urged residents to leave Belize City, saying it does not have shelters strong enough to withstand a storm of Dean's size. At the southern tip of Texas, sandbags were distributed in the resort town of South Padre Island, and residents were urged to evacuate. The crew of the U.S. space shuttle Endeavour prepared to land a day early Tuesday because of the threat NASA had once feared Hurricane Dean would pose to Mission Control in Houston. In Mexico during the past three days, officials put more than 50,000 people on flights leaving various parts of the Yucatan peninsula, the federal Communications and Transportation Department said in a statement. Cancun, well north of Dean's landfall, saw strong winds since the storm swirled over 75,000 square miles, about the size of Nebraska. Cancun's tourist strip is still marked with cranes used to repair the damage from 2005's Hurricane Wilma, which caused $3 billion in losses. Dean is expected to be even stronger than Wilma, which stalled over Cancun and pummeled it for a day. Dean had a minimum central pressure of 906 millibars just before landfall, the third lowest at landfall after the 1935 Labor Day hurricane in the Florida Keys and Hurricane Gilbert, which hit Cancun in 1988. "A very low pressure indicates a very strong storm," said Hurricane Center meteorologist Rebecca Waddington. The worst storm to hit Latin America in modern times was 1998's Hurricane Mitch, which killed nearly 11,000 people and left more than 8,000 missing, most in Honduras and Nicaragua. Press-Telegram - Roaring Hurricane Dean strikes Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, then storm weakens

Just say no! If you wanted them there you would have thought to find them before they asked you. I had a few coworkers do this to me and in that case it was quite rude. At least these are/were your friends but not close enough to where you already had them on the list. I said we're having a small, out of the country wedding for family and close friends only. They should understand...if not remind them that they found you on Facebook - not by talking to you since they don't keep in touch )

OMG Jill those are awesome! I think that's the cutest chapel I've seen. What a beautful location and fabulous photos. Thanks for sharing )

Ooooh!!! We're in for a treat ) Congrats, that's awesome!!

I think you've got the right idea now. The perfect dresses, the right flowers, and the fabulous welcome bag are nice but so not necessary. When it's all said and done those things won't stick out in your memory anyway, honestly it will be the joy of your marriage ceremony and the fellowship of your friends and family. I say get rid of any superficial stuff that is making you stress, and I hope you get well soon!

Well I'll be the first to tell you many DW couples go through this. While nobody tried to replan it for us, some people asked why we picked PV over their various favorite travel spots. Just the question bothered us. Um, because we wanted it in Mexico and it's not about you!!! Here's an easy solution - don't come! What they are doing is absolutely and ridiculously inconsiderate and I would let them know that. Don't for one minute consider changing your plans for anyone - mom, dad, grandma, etc. You are not evil or selfish for wanting to plan your wedding, they are evil and selfish for trying to plan your wedding. Sometimes it's more about Aunt Mary being bitter that nobody ever wanted to marry her, or cousin Jane being envious that she got married at city hall and didn't think to do something as cool as a DW, so they turn into haters instead of supporters, get a few other people all riled up, then next thing you know there is a small group of haters. For whatever reason they are hating, don't let anyone steal your sunshine or try to "help" you replan anything. Handle it by keeping the whole reason you are planning anything in the forefront of your mind - you love and want to marry Myles. Period. That's it and that's all. It's about you two and what you want and everyone else can kick rocks. The people that come are the people that are supposed to be there. Don't cater to anyone but Myles, as he would cater to you. That's it!!! Thank your lucky stars for the people who won't go, you don't want to pay for those ingrates to eat and drink anyway! Hang in there )

There is nothing wrong with eloping. I wouldn't go to Hawaii for only 4 days and I live in Southern Cali where it is only like a 5-6 hour flight, so I can imagine east-coasters not wanting to take such a quick trip. Do what you want to do and whoever is with it will find a way to go. If it's only the two of you that would be incredibly romantic and special too!!

And for you Riu Ocho Rios brides I found some video shot there on Saturday, nothing graphic, but if you compare it with the 3rd video of a storm-free Ochi you'll see how ugly it got. They are fully functional again as Brittney mentioned so all is well there. YouTube - RIU Ocho Rios 2007.08.19 11:00 AM YouTube - RIU Ocho Rios 2007.08.19 08:00 AM YouTube - Clubhotel Riu Ocho Rios

Trista that is awesome!!!! Great to hear. I got word from my friend in JA via her brother, and she says they are alright. Still without power because at their private residence there is no generator, and they are only a tiny bit concerned about a mudslide since they are somewhat in the hills and everything is still very wet. They have family in Spanish Town with significant property damage but that's not a big tourist area. She mentioned something about all of Jamaica being declared a state of emergency for a month. That may just effect residents of Jamaica as I'm quite sure the resorts will be fully functional on their generators if nothing else. And the airport is open so I don't see any of our brides having a major problem.