BeachBride82

I love the second one as well--it's very flattering for your figure!

I heard from a friend of mine that Old Navy just got their swimsuits/summer line in! Hopefully you have an Old Navy in Quebec!

Victoria Secret has some nice stuff and they ship to Canada ($25 shipping fee). Some of their bikinis are less than $30 for two pieces! Dresses are approx $40!

We're staying in Mexico for 7 days for our wedding and then we're off to Hawaii a month later for our honeymoon.

I bought: Weddingstar Canada: Nesting Unity Sand Ceremony Set (it's a Canadian site, but they do have a US site as well) and ordered one color of sand (in my fiance's favorite color) from the same company. I'm planning on using sand from the beach as my second color (hopefully I can get through customs!). I took a look at some arts and crafts stores in my area and couldn't find the color of sand I was looking for--this company has several colors to choose from. The set came with a foam stopper for the center vase (when we return home, I will look into sealing it with wax). I'm happy with how the vases look (we had our names, wedding date and location etched on the center vase). They came packaged very well and I think that the main vase will hold up during our return (I'll just keep it upright in my carry-on and hopefully it won't mix too much). There is also a new vase set on their site: Weddingstar Canada: Heart Shaped Unity Sand Ceremony Set Hope this helps!

Here is a company that I found: Cancun Vista tours, hotels, diving, and more. I am planning on substituting the standard wedding hotel dinner with a sunset dinner cruise for my guests. Now I just have to decide--saxophone sunset lobster sail or Captain Hook sunset lobster sail...

Today is the final day for my guests to RSVP and I am still waiting on approximately 50% of my guests to respond. I sent out a second reminder a month ago (my travel agent quit and we were assigned to a new one, so I had to send out the new contact information) and a few guests RSVP'd at that point. It's such a pain waiting for guests to book--I am planning on booking a sunset sail dinner cruise (instead of a typical dinner reception) and need to reserve seats ahead of time. I feel your pain. Apparently, the most tactful way (according to wedding etiquette websites) is to get the mothers of the bride/groom to call.

Could it be an Alfred Angelo? You can opt to take the underskirt out of this one: With the underskirt: Wedding Dresses Style 1774 :: Alfred Angelo :: Wedding Dresses :: House of Brides Without: Wedding Dresses Style 1774NT :: Alfred Angelo :: Informal Wedding Dresses :: House of Brides

I love the first dress that you posted in this thread (the "exlusive" dress)! I think that it is very flattering and suits you. I don't think that the back is too busy, the extra detailing will look nice in your photos.

Definitely keep me posted - I think that this would be the perfect gift! Hopefully you are happy with the quality! Good luck.

Mauraw - I checked out the TCO website and their version of the Elsa Peretti starfish mini mini necklace looks great. I was surprised by the price of the neclace on the Tiffany website (seems like a lot of money!). This seems like a great alternative for my bridesmaids/junior bridesmaids. Hopefully the website is legitimate!

The Grand Sirenis was one of the resorts that I was considering for my wedding. It has a very picturesque beach (apparently very rocky, but watershoes should do the trick). There is a large trapezoid-shaped hole in the wall dividing the bedroom area from the bathroom in each hotel room. If you do decide to pick this hotel, a good gift for your OOT bags is a shower curtain with some velcro - I saw a post recommeding this as a quick fix on TripAdvisor. I also saw posts on TA that said that you can request rooms with a frosted glass barrier. In the end, we decided to go with a hotel in Cancun because we were a little concerned that our guests would find the Grand Sirenis/Akumal area too quiet. We stayed at the Bahia Principe Akumal in August 2006 and found it really quiet - however, the food and the service were excellent. Hope this helps!

I'm not much help as well. I bought my tickets this past week for our Hawaii honeymoon in June/July. My suggestion is to go through with purchasing your tickets up until the point that you have to put in your payment. AirCanada, the company that we are flying with, had an updated image of how many seats were left on the planes (arrival and departure). I was surprised to see that more than 1/2 of the seats on each flight were booked so far in advance! Perhaps you could contact the airline, let them know the number of guests that you are expecting to travel with and see if they have a recommended timeline?

Thank you for the info Yazmin! I have never been married before. I just would like to confirm: Do I need to get both our birth certificates and passports certified with the Canadian authentication document, or just the birth certificates? Can I get the documents certified now (6 months prior to the wedding, or do I have to wait until closer to the wedding date?). Then we bring one or more copies plus the originals? So we need: birth certificates, passports, tourist cards...is there anything else (i.e., driver's license, or extra piece of ID)? Then in Mexico, all the docs are translated? Can I send these to the wedding coordinator early, to save time? Then we go through the wedding ceremony process and within four days - two months later, we receive copies of the marriage certificate? Do we have to do anything to get the certificate recognized in Canada? I really appreciate your help! Erin.

Here's what I found on a Bahia website (Bahia Principe Tulum Akumal Caribbean wedding). If you scroll to the bottom, you will see several FAQs: As we are All-Inclusive, do we need to pay charge for extra guests? Weddings are not part of the All-Inclusive package, therefore you would need to pay the wedding package and the extra charges in case you have , the charge includes cake for 18 persons and 2 champagne bottles for your wedding group as well as an extra dinner in one of our a La Carte restaurants for your wedding night. All the fees are going to be charged at your room bill, and you will have to pay it at the end of your vacations when you leave the hotel. Some of our guests will be staying in Cancun, but we would like them to join our celebrations. Is this possible? They can purchase our wedding day pass, which enables them to come into the hotel between 8 a.m. till 11:00 pm., They will then be able to use all of our all-inclusive facilities including the wedding dinner. Please ask them to bring a photo ID with them. The cost of the day pass is 50 USD per person. It sounds like you would have to put a credit card number down for the date right away, meet with the wedding coordinator 4 days beforehand to plan your wedding and then pay the wedding and day pass fees. Erin.

Sorry - I'm not familiar with the hotel that you have originally picked... Have you checked out the Bahia Principe Tulum? I stayed at the Bahia Principe Akumal in August (the Tulum hotel is right next door and we had sharing privileges). A friend of mine got married at the Dreams Tulum this summer and her pictures are gorgeous. Another friend of mine was married at the Bahia Tulum last November. Neither bride had complaints about the wedding process. Both the Bahia and the Dreams resorts are fairly large; even though the Bahia Akumal was a big resort, I still felt that it was very low key with good food when I was there!

Hi, I found this at: How to Clean Seashells | eHow.com I've done this with conch shells and sand dollars in the past (wash, soak with diluted bleach, rinse and lay out in the sun to dry). My mom lived in Hawaii as a child and used the same process. I haven't done it with starfish, but I am sure that the cleaning process would probably be something similar (perhaps, skip the mineral oil step and reduce the amount of bleach). Step One: Wash the shell out with a garden hose or in the kitchen sink. You want to remove whatever is still inside or you will likely smell your mistake later. Step Two: Mix a solution of 50 percent household bleach and 50 percent water. Soak the shell in the solution for 24 hours to remove any remnants of the inhabitant. Step Three: Rinse the shell thoroughly in running water. Scrub gently with an old toothbrush and mild dishwashing soap. Step Four: Allow the shell to dry completely. Step Five: Use a soft rag to rub mineral oil onto the shell and let it soak in for a few hours. Step Six: Wipe the excess oil off and enjoy! Tips & Warnings Some collectors spray their shells with WD-40 or silicon spray (which isn't wiped off). Keep in mind that many varieties of seashells - cowries, for instance - are naturally shiny and never need polishing. Do not use vegetable oil, which can become rancid.

I have always loved Alfred Angelo Style No 1516: Alfred Angelo... Find the perfect Wedding Dress, Bridesmaid Dress, Prom Dress, Flower Girl Dress or Mother of the Bride Dress at Alfred Angelo. I know two girls that have picked this dress: one at a destination wedding in DR and one in my home town. Both have looked wonderful in it! It has red accents and a corset back. I'm sure that it is fairly easy to come by. Perhaps, you could try it on in the store (retails for $1037) and then order it online for a cheaper price (online for $749). If you check out the House of Brides website, you can order the dress online and have it delivered immediately: Immediate Delivery Wedding Dress Style 1516 :: Immediate Delivery Wedding Dresses :: Immediate Delivery Dresses :: House of Brides Hope this helps, Erin.

I have booked Claudia for my May/08 wedding. A good question to ask her when booking is if she will be the photographer available for the date, or if she is going to send out one of her assistants. She is sending out one of her assistants to photograph my wedding (I had really hoped for Claudia, but after being reassured that her assistant has several years experience, I am comfortable using her assistant). You can check out her assistants photo samples/blogs on her website as well. The assistant that she has designated to us seems like she will do an excellent job. I am content with their pricing. We are booking her for 3 hours. We also asked for the opportunity to book her assistant for an extra hour, just in case we run out of time and still need some more photographs. She quoted us $300US for the extra hour. It was really simple to get my date guaranteed - I paid $100US via paypals and received a receipt immediately. Erin.

I have used Travel 222 several times in the past with great success. The prices are really reasonable and the website is very user-friendly. Erin.

Yep - I found everything at Michael's for less than $10. I dug through the bins of shells in order to find a large one that was in good shape. I'm a little concerned about adding sand to the base of the shell - do you think that it will get inbetween the diamonds of my wedding band? Another idea that I've been considering (I'm second guessing my shell) is to use a starfish (also sold at Michael's) and tie the ribbon at the centre. I think that I may have issues with customs if my bags get checked... I like the pics that you have posted - you can select a shell to go with your wedding colors instead of trying to match ribbon colors.

I haven't added the teal ribbon yet, here's how my ring shell looks so far.

Here's something very similar to what I did: http://sherrysellsseashells.com/wedd...ringbearer.jpg I found all of the supplies at Michael's (very inexpensive). I used ribbon to match my wedding colors (teal and white).

Does anyone have any recommendations for selecting either a beach or gazebo wedding ceremony location? Thanks! Erin.

Thank you for making me feel so welcome! Any advice as to what is the best time of day to get married on the beach? Thanks!