brigopens

Thanks again so much for all of the very nice compliments. I read them to my wife last night and she was truly flattered... Noelle is an amazing photographer, and acted like she had shot a million TTD sessions in the past. If you have kids that you want amazing pictures of, you should definitely check out the rest of her her site and keep her in mind! We're anxiously waiting like the rest of you to see how Elizabeth Medina captured our festivities at EDR!!! I'll keep you posted.

Quote: Originally Posted by shannon I tried too -- we are all totally stalking your pictures- hehe WOW! Didn't realize how many of you I was keeping waiting!!! Sorry, but it's all fixed now and there should be no more password issues... Thanks again for all of the great compliments!

Quote: Originally Posted by StephanieMN UUGH it won't let me in. What in the world could I be doing wrong?! Sorry, the site was down for a bit, but Noelle quickly fixed that. Thanks so much for all of the compliments. I will make sure to share them with my beautiful bride!!! Enjoy!

Quote: Originally Posted by starchild Those are beautiful! You look like a bride from a magazine...lol So pretty ) I'm the groom, but that's OK. Common mistake. :-) My new wife is pretty hot though, right? Glad you enjoyed them...

Wow, it seems like a long time since I have been on here... I'll definitely catch up all the future EDR people on how things went in the next week. To cut to the chase though, nearly perfect should sum it up!!! I knew people would want to see these ASAP! A great benefit of having a professional photog in the wedding party was the quick turn around on these shots!!! Go to Noelle Roberts Photography, client proofing, use password "Trash" (case sensitive) We had a blast doing these! We're also very excited to get our rehearsal/ceremony/reception pics back from Elizabeth Medina in a couple of weeks!!!

I'm leaning towards Digital Photography-Upload, Print, Share, and Organize Your Digital Photos with dotPhoto.com Seems to allow most everything that people are looking for here. Easy to organize and upload. no software to install, unless you want the bulk uploader. Files as large as 1024X768 (high res enough) and unlimited storage even in their free accounts!

Some great instrumental selections especially for beach weddings. Listen free to samples of over 40 songs... Listen to Wedding Music. Wedding Song Samples. Wedding Day Music-All Parts of Ceremony Prelude Falling in Love Wachet Auf Air on a G String Air (from Water Music) The Wedding Song (instrumental Kenny G version) I Can Only Imagine Largo Bless the Broken Road Arioso Hawaiian Wedding Song Processional Reminiscent Joy Canon in D Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring Hymne Canon in F Here Comes the Bride Canon in D Forever My Love Ceremony The Wedding Song (There is Love) Ave Maria (piano) I Will be Here The Gift of Love How Beautiful Panis Angelicus The Prayer By the Sea To Make You Feel My Love Ave Maria (harp & sax) The Road That Never Ends Recessional Spring (from The Four Seasons) Ode to Joy Finale (from Water Music) Trumpet Tune Rondeau Wedding March - Mendelssohn (harp & flute) Reception From This Moment On The Way You Look Tonight Forever in Love It Had to be You When Lights Are Low Unforgettable Kiss the Girl At Last What a Wonderful World Use coupon code 2FREESONGS at check out for $1.98 discount, which is essentially 2 free songs!

Quote: Originally Posted by Dreamgirl08 Hi girls, Valeria teamed me up with Lomas for our suite & casita reservation needs. I'm curious to know if any of you ladies are dealing with Lomas as well, and how that's going? Also If I'm understanding correctly, Lomas only reserves room reservations right? Well if so, what is everyone doing about airfare? There are plenty of posts around here explaining this relationship. Everyone who has a wedding at EDR plans it through Lomas. Valeria works for Lomas. They work along with EDR to do the planning... We're using a fantastic TA who has taken care of everything travel related, so I'm not sure who she has been booking all of our rooms with. I would imagine that it's Lomas, but could be direct with the resort. As far as other travel arrangements (don't forget transfers from airport to resort,) you'll need to do them on your own or get someone to do them for you. If you need help with that PM me and I can hook you up with our TA who has been basically perfect! You will use Valeria to plan all of the on-resort events and the details of your wedding. She will help you book all of your amenities (spas, massage, honeymoon dinner, group dinner, etc...) She will also help organize the ceremony with regards to time, location, minister, etc... Hope that helps clear things up for you.

Quote: Originally Posted by bre Orchids are really expensive but it's because they have to import them. Cymbidiums are typically expensive in the states too in my experience b/c it takes forever to grow them. If you want your BM to have orchids, consider mixing it with another flower such as roses. This should greatly decrease your costs. You also need to order your orchids at least 60 days ahead if I remember correctly. I can't imagine too many people going withthem due to the hassle, cost, etc...

Quote: Originally Posted by brandoo Hi Shannon! (and others!), I am doing the free Fuentes dinner as well and ceremony at Gazebo 55. I think we are just going to have our IPod with speakers, but we kind of need an emcee... what are you guys doing about that? We're doing El Cocotal since it seemed a little more intimate. For the reception, we put together all of our own music and one of our friends will MC the evening... Quote: Originally Posted by brandoo So this is a totally ADD post (I'm all over the place, but I've got to get it out while I'm thinking of it) but I looked at Lomas web-site to try and figure out how much a bouquet with orchids would be... $250?! We chose a tropical bouquet and they're making the bridesmaids' for around $10-$20 less each. Probably spend something like $200-$300 and then we'll use the bridesmaid ones as center pieces... Quote: Originally Posted by brandoo All of this stuff is really adding up... maybe I'll carry one of those cute monkeys from the resort instead of flowers... may have fleas, but they're cute and free! They have to make their money somehow. There are lots of little ways that they can get the total bill to add up. You just need to pick and choose, and be careful... I'd recommend riding in on the donkey over carrying a monkey.

Quote: Originally Posted by Dreamgirl08 Your posts have sure helped me to finally decide. Yeah so the Photographer thing is a real bummer. Have you girls found a photographer yet for your big day? I'm kind of on a budget, but willing to push the limit for the right photographer. Any suggestions?? Using Elizabeth Medina who's work is AMAZING!!! She's taken some pics at EDR before which you can find if you look around this site. I wouldn't let the photographer thing get you down. Get a room for your photographer (which they will want anyway) and then put them on your guest list... I'll let you know how that goes for us very soon!!!

There are also individual casitas, which are separated from the others... Our plan is this: First 3 nights in a regular room. Move to casita for final week of stay there. We will be "moving in" 3 days prior to the wedding. Definitely a great place for pictures of the girls getting ready. They are also having a lingerie shower the night before and all of the girls will be hanging out in the casita for that. They're expensive, yes, but you only get married once.

I'm not sure they know. Within the past month, Valeria told me that they were splitting but that the timeline was TBD. They've always guaranteed it would not have an effect on preplanned groups. I'll let you know once I find out more when we're there in 18 DAYS!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by shannon Bre- I'm trying to decide between the "free" wedding reception/dinner at El Cocotal or Fuentes-- From your pics it looks like Fuentes is outside? -is this right? - are they big differences between restaurant setups? thanks so much for any help!! Amy & I just recently made this decision for ourselves... Here's my two cents on what goes into deciding. - MENUS - You need to choose 1 starter, 1 soup/pasta, and 2 entrees no matter which restaurant you decide on. At Las Fuentes you also need to choose a dessert while El Cocotal has a dessert variety platter. Las Fuentes has the same menu every night. Check with your wedding coordinator because I am not sure what she sent us would be the same as when you are there. El Cocotal has a theme menu for every night including Mexican Night, Gala Dinner, Caribbean Night, Chef's Dinner, Dine Around, Four chef's delight, Gourmet Night & Mayan Night. You can see the different menus by clicking here. - ATMOSPHERE - This is one of the things we were most worried about. We are also using this as our "rehearsal dinner" the evening prior to the wedding. We figured that we might want to do some speaking, thank yous, a toast or two, etc... While neither offers a private room, there are some differences that we were told. Las Fuentes is a noisier, more open atmosphere. While we were assured we could be placed away from the "lights and sound" of the cooking show, it didn't seem like we would have much of an opportunity to communicate with our whole group at once. It was described to us as an open air palapa restaurant, not quite inside or outside... I don't think anything has changed, so whoever has been there probably knows. El Cocotal is indoor, a bit fancier, and provides a bit more isolated area for group dinners. I don't like the decor from the pictures I have seen as much, but Valeria told us that she thought this would be a little more private and allow for the activities we described above. - LOCATION - Where on the resort these are located. Not sure this will matter to you or not, unless maybe you are using this following your ceremony and guests will have to get from one place to the other. Las Fuentes is located farther south and away from the beach amongst the newer rooms and near the main pool. El Cocotal is located adjacent to the main lobby and Martini Bar. It's also off of the beach, but closer to the original rooms and casitas. In the end we went with "El Cocotal" for the night before the wedding. We'll probably use our other group dinner at Las Fuentes for maybe 12-16 of us later in the week. Something after the wedding, more casual, and with less people! Some other info that may be helpful... The dinner they give you is good for up to 40 people. They will allow you to add extra people at a charge of $25 per person. They're prety strict about the menus, which is unfortunate. While it's fun to have everyone get together, we struggled with the idea of limiting our guests choices so much at a resort so focused on amazing food and variety.

Quote: Originally Posted by brigopens Here in Dallas, the Mavericks dancers are sponsored by Planet Tan. A coworker's son helped with the release party for their calendar last night and got me a coupon for one free month! Hopefully more of them will pop up on eBay at some point... OK, so the FI went with Planet Tan for the month and has been happy with them. I decided to just use the gym I go to locally (24 Hour fitness) (since I've been there lots lately...) and got a decent one month deal. Unlimited for $25. We're gonna be looking good!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by MrsV-to-be ME too!! Love her! Valeria continues to step up for us! We're at the 30 day mark, wth lots of things to finalize, etc... She's been great, and really working to get the resort to bend over backwards on some issues with ceremmony location, etc... I'll give the full review on her when I get there and see if everything is done as promised...

Quote: Originally Posted by Mrs.B 2008 Thanks for the code! Question: how many bags did you order total (custom and plain?) thanks!!! We ordered the 4 custom bags and got 1 free. Then my mom picked up about another 1 lb of each at the M&M store...

Quote: Originally Posted by Mrs.B 2008 Does anyone have a current Coupon Code for Victoria's Secret and for custom M&M's? Thanks! Can't help you with Victoria's Secret. The fiance is in charge of stuff like that but I will ask her for you... Custom M&Ms I can help with. We actually just got ours in the mail. Also had my mom, pick up some colored ones without messages at the M&M store to mix in since they are so expensive. All in all, it turned out pretty cool, and while expensive, it will look cool! They also just added some blends that have more than the standard two colors you can pick. I'm assuming most would go with colors they had picked for their wedding, but there's also a wedding blend. This should help a little... Quote: Your friend can get a free bonus bag of holiday (works for all purchases) custom printed My M&M's. Have a friend write a good tidings message on MY M&M's and everybody will talk about it for seasons to come. Order now, and receive a FREE Bonus Bag of your Custom Print order. You'll win extra points for being so darn creative and incredibly thoughtful. Only available online at mymms.com/friend2007 Enter promo code: FRIEND2007 (I didn't need to add this when using the link above) Minimum purchase required. Offer expires 12/31/07. This offer may not be combined with any other promotional offers or existing orders and is only valid through this advertisement. See site for details. To break it down for you, the minimum you have to order is 4 - Custom Print 7oz Bags which comes to $47.96 then you get one 7oz bag for free. Subtotal: $47.96 Est. Shipping Cost: $12.95 Est. Total: $60.91 for 5 total 7oz bags...

Great idea. I was thinking of making my account available to anyone, and then thought about making a new account for all. Guess I was just making it more complicated than it already was... This is much easier if it's already done!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by Christine honestly, unless you live in a small town with a tanning salon, you will have to go to the corporate ones and they are rather expensive. Its incredibly frustrating but Palm Beach Tan does offer some internet discounts that you can find on occasion. Otherwise just go to the salons and see what kind of special they are running. Here in Dallas, the Mavericks dancers are sponsored by Planet Tan. A coworker's son helped with the release party for their calendar last night and got me a coupon for one free month! Hopefully more of them will pop up on eBay at some point...

Quote: Originally Posted by chicago88 Brigopens - I'm glad you got a good deal. I was talking about the site that Annie started this post with, not the tanks on E-bay. FYI. Oops, my bad... Some nice stuff on that site, but I agree it is rather pricey. Seriously, I'd get in touch with this girl from eBay if you are even considering purchasing bride/bridesmaid/maid of honor shirts...

Quote: Originally Posted by MandyBlue Eyes I'm having trouble finding the perfect place..........Does anyone have any advice on a 5*All Inclusive Resort in the Mayan/Cancun area where they do private beach dinner/receptions with a d.j. party afterwards? We may have kids going....not sure yet Thanks everyone If the may have kids turns into will not have kids, then EDR is a pefect location for everythign you want...

Quote: Originally Posted by Morgan can you test it somehow? do you have access to a projector to see how it looks? Nope, won't have the projector until we get down there. Guess I can try to borrow one from a friend here and give it a shot...

Quote: Originally Posted by beachbride thanks, I couldn't find it anywhere! We didn't register for any cash gifts, but did register for gift certificates to a few stores (HD, etc...) and also for gift certificates to use at the resort. People sometimes seem a little leary about the idea of registering for cash... Also talked to our local lawn care company and put them on myregistry.com for a year's worth of lawn treatment!!! I really hope we get that one!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by chicago88 Definitely cute stuff but kind of pricey. The beach bride tank with the palm tree was 37 or 38 bucks without tax or shipping - that's pretty high for a tank top. I'm not sure what you are looking at. Most I see are $15 (BUY IT NOW price), and the seller was very nice and worked with us on shipping and a bulk discount for buying 5 of them...