rodent

OK here is mine. We will have about 28 guests for a wedding in Riviera Maya in June of 08. I've been keeping up with every dollar, so I tried to condense it. My budget was set at $5,000. I was under budget for most things because of all the DIY projects I learned from the forum. Then I went over budget for some things when I realized they meant too much for me to skimp on. Is skimp a real word? The biggest struggle for me was photography. I was trying to set too low of a photography budget for myself. I love pictures & should have known that was an area I would have been OK skimping on. I should have set a more realistic budget from the beginning. I am perfectly happy with all the other places I've cut corners. But, I'm so glad I will now have awesome photography. I guess I would say my tips for having a wedding on a budget is to figure out what really matters to you. Allocate more money for those things & cut corners on the rest. I'm really happy with my cheap dress, but I really care about having great photography. Mike & I both also wanted cheap rings. For someone else it could be swapped. Just figure out what matters to you. Keeping things cheap made me get more creative & I had a lot of fun with it. I also love all the personal touches DIYing puts into my wedding. I'm also saving by not having a private reception. I've talked it over with my guests & I think it will work for us. I'll report back in 2 months if I feel like I should have spent more in some places & less in others. I am really excited to be taking our guests on a Coba excursion. Photography is the one thing I left off my budget below. With prices always changing I think it's better to contact the photographer directly for current prices. OK here we go. I hope this copies correctly:

I'm going to be in the sun. I don't want to spend my time indoors. I hope I don't burn, but I'll just risk it. i usually don't burn on vacation if I reapply the sunscreen often & I have fair skin. As long as I've been in the sun enough prior to the trip I'm usually fine. I plan on laying out before we go so I won't burn as easy. I'll wear lots of sunscreen & clothes that won't leave bad tan lines for my dress. I intentionally bought a dress with straps.

my picks in order are 5, 2, 1, 3 Will your hair be up or down?

Quote: Originally Posted by AnnR Yea, not sure where I got some of those - but they were worth a chuckle anyway. I am sure I "borrowed" them from someone else on here! Paul made me get rid of some of the naughtier ones though. I think many of those came from Natasha. We've been trying to locate her list, but they are no longer on the forum. Glad you uploaded them! I'm too late though. I printed mine off yesterday.

Robyn Kessler Photography: Dogs Here are some really good dog photography pics.

I know I will miss the projects. I've had a lot of fun this year making stuff. So, I'm starting up a website so I can start designing stuff for others after my wedding. I think that will help fill the void Then I can always start planning our next vacation, too.

Quote: Originally Posted by DreaW hmmm I need to get photoshop for my mac so I can do all the great effects there is a free online version called photoshop express. I suggest starting off with something like express or elements before buying the full version. it's expensive & really takes time to learn. You can get a cheap copy of elements on ebay. You can do so much with elements. All the stuff I did to tammy's picture so far can be done with elements.

Quote: Originally Posted by DreaW Wow Morgan you're very good at photoshopping...Are you using photoshop? thanks! I recently got photoshop CS3 so I'm still learning. I have been using photoshop elements for a while, but I am just started in scratch the surface of what all photoshop can do.

A pet photography business sounds like fun! OK, I'm not a pro but I can't help but chime in on a photo editing question. I recently bought Kevin Kubota's Digital photography bootcamp for $20 on amazon. I think it would be a great book to get you started. There is a great explanation of RAW vs JPG. There is also a description of how to take jpgs, but make them more like raw files. You remove all the auto sharpening & stuff so you can edit & then add it back in. RAW files sound like they give you more flexibility for editing. But, they are huge files & take up more memory & are slower. If you were taking the photos with a studio set up it would be easier to get the exposure right. If you are chasing dogs in a park snapping away, you might want editing capability later. For editing you will definitly want something like Photoshop CS or lightroom. Photoshop elements won't be enough because you need the tools CS has. A lot of the tools help you streamline editing which is important if you will be doing tons of editing. Just simple stuff like converting a picture to black & white can take a while in elements to do it right. With CS, you can use an action to do the conversion for you quick. I've been looking for an action that will quickly remove dog "green-eye." That might be useful too. I also recently bought a Scott Kelby photoshop book. It has been very helpful for making the transistion from elements to CS3. Both of the books are very easy to follow for a non-pro. There are tons of pictures & the descriptions are very clear.

did stephanieMN make a custom wrapper? I saw on her blog a hershey's bar that said "his & hers"

Quote: Originally Posted by JamaicaBride062108 Morgan, Can you believe that we are exactly 2 months away from being married ladies! the reality is setting in! We got our first wedding gift last week & that made it feel so close. I think we are going to try to do our paperwork day on may 21st so I'm only a month away from being a married lady! Are you getting married legally before you head to jamaica?

My 2 months to go list: Finished: picked place found TA booked our travel collected addresses sent out save the dates took engagement pictures got dress, shoes, jewelry, veil picked hairstyle made website made logo designed, glued & mailed invitations planned ceremony music- friend is currently recording it on keyboard booked photographer & then booked another one started on making cups for OOT bags made postcards for OOT bags bought thank you cards made photo guestbook (and then made it again) registered for stuff made hairflower (although I'm working on a better one now- see a pattern here) made pre-wedding brochure for guests who have booked ordered fans for guests to use during ceremony most of organizing for group trip to Coba & Charter fishing trip is done~ waiting on RSVPs to book took care of my grandma's passport issues bought a cheap, used camcorder to record ceremony & the rest of our vacation bought various sun dresses to wear on vacation bought white swimsuit bought snorkel set OOT bags bought organza bags for flower petals, will buy the petals when we get there made gift for grandma (photobook) bought lipstick & lipstick sealer Bought nail polish (giving it a test run today- so pretty ) spanish phrase list for OOT bags cancun airport letter (still need to mail to guests with final newsletter) his outfit for wedding (so glad to have that one taken care of) outfit for paperwork day (will be same outfit for prewedding TTD) To do: Find some cool blue shoes for prewedding TTD his wedding band (I know where I'm getting it from I just need to know his size) write vows decorations for a simple AHF (After Wedding Fiesta) I’m waiting until after Cinco de Mayo to buy them make programs to attach to fans finish painting cups for OOT bags (only a couple left to do) Make a “meet the guests” brochure (work in progress right now, mostly done) Make a welcome letter (work in progress right now, mostly done) make a timeline for guests of all the events Book charter fishing & group trip to Coba (waiting on RSVPs, but planning is done) Get dress hemmed (keep putting this one off for some reason) Finish making bridesmaid gifts (even though I’m not having bridesmaids-5 have been finished & passed out, I have 3 to complete but they are mostly done) Make a new & improved hairflower (have the flower just need to attach it) Wrap up wedding music details make CDs for dance after wedding incase we get to use the disco (collect everyone’s first dance songs) Embroidery hankies for our moms (I have the stuff, I just need to learn how to cross stitch) decide on eye makeup make CD of honeymoon music make CDs for OOT bags coordinate paperwork day (Mike is supposed to be handling this) decide on tipping amounts & gift for TA (probably something cute from mexico & a nice thank you card) & WC (maybe something from Texas & North Carolina + cash) Make announcements to send out after the wedding (mom thought I should do this- lots of stamps!) Wrap black ribbon around raffia fans Stuff I’m not doing: Wedding party Decorations (other than what the hotel does for our package) welcome/ rehearsal dinner

Great job!

Here are some threads. I need to figure out my tips too. Do most people take cash. Us dollars or pesos? Someone mentioned a visa gift card. Is that useful? I don't want to carry a lot of extra cash around if I can avoid it. http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t1734 http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t11451 http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t3741

Quote: Originally Posted by becks Here's the place, can't wait to have you all over for a BBQ!! Ohh I can't wait. Nibblets loves BBQs!

i really appreciate all your detailed reviews. very helpful. I think your flowers are slightly different. maybe they are from a different batch. Mine looks more like the one in the inspiration pick & doesn't have the wilted look. Hopefully it's a little smaller & will work as is. My hair is long enough to do a test run soon. I'm probably going to do an entire dress rehersal one of these weekends. in ther end it all looked great. Good thing you had your aunt to help you out.

Quote: Originally Posted by SunBride Our photographer was Jodi Laundry from Daydreamphotography.com. I put lots of info about her and the experience under the picture links (in the first post of this thread) Yes I made the starfish boutonniers, I spray painted sugar starfish white and then put pins in the back. If you look at my wedding review I posted pictures on I think page 7 because somebody else asked about them. Oh what the heck I'll just link that too http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t18711-7 (page 7) Just a warning about the amaryllis, they are really big. My aunt is the one who put the flowers together and she had to pull apart the amaryllis petals and re-create a new flower (she like pinched the middle of the flower together to make it a bit smaller). I'm really glad she did this becuase it was still very big afterwards, would definitely have been to big for me otherwise. This is also why in my bouquet my aunt kept the amaryllis kinda closed rather than open like in pictures (in my bouquet the amaryllis is way less prominent than in my inspiration picture), I guess she thought it would be too big with the petals all open and spread out on top of everything. Oh yeah, I also cut off the poky things in the middle of the hair flower, because it's impossible to move them and place them like you want (i.e. they are not wired, just plastic) so we just cut them off because they were sticking out too much). so your aunt made your hair flower smaller? I was worried it was too big, but yours looks good. i'll see if I can make mine smaller.

Great pictures! I think that is the same flower I'm thinking about wearing. It's good to see how it will look.

too funny. Motivator: Create your own customized motivational poster – Inspire! Motivate! Mock! here is a website for making your own motivational poster.

Quote: Originally Posted by DougsGirl good choices morgan! i liked shirt 2 for the wedding as well but came in after the vote also, he cracks me up what a ham! and i really wish i could wear my vacation outfits to work tell him i'm jealous! we both work in labs & could get away with wearing just about anything. He wore jeans one day & his coworkers asked why he was so dressed up.

Quote: Originally Posted by JamaicaBride062108 Great choices! You can always trust the ladies of BDW to help you out. I love the action shots! I don't know how you kept the camera still, I'd have been rolling on the floor. My Mike hates shopping! So far he has tried on a jacket but no pants for his wedding suit. Everything I buy him for vacation he simply looks at and goes, "Yeah, I'll wear it." Damn right he's going to wear it because I'm going to pack his suitcase! Yep, I'll be packing his suitcase too. I know he likes having new clothes, he just doesn't like the work that goes into getting them. So I do his shopping. Really, he has it good. He wore his new vacation outfits to work all last week so I know he liked them.

Quote: Originally Posted by BarefootBride I showed my FI Mikes photos! He thought it was funny and then started to defend him and make fun of BDW... He has challenged me find a forum just for grooms... Grooms usually come around when they see how awesome the wedding turns out with all the help from BDW. In all this wedding planing Mike has only had 2 things to do. Try on clothes & get his ring size. He got off pretty easy. I think he was having fun trying on the clothes.

Another guest is viewing man hair. Is man hair something that is googled often?

And the winners are.....