JUSTUSTWO

Thank you all sooo much for all of your supportive words, thoughts & birthday wishes. I truly appreciate it. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how great it is to have BDW at times like this where we can share good times & bad times. I called UPS because I wanted them to clarify their policy of leaving packages at a person's door. The rep that I spoke to said that this is done at the drivers discretion. If he feels that your package will be "safe" left at your door, then he will leave it. If there is inclimate weather or if their are animals/pets around that will disturb the package, then he won't leave it & will leave the slip instead. She said that the ONLY time that drivers WON'T leave a package is if the sender requests a signature. If a signature is not required, again, its all up to the driver. So for those of you using UPS or any other carrier & sending important packages, make sure that you always request a signature to prevent something like this from happening. I know that DH didn't intercept the package because we both got home at the same time & I came upstairs first. In terms of my neighbors, DH said last night that he's going to go ask our next door neighbors himself. I feel like if they had the package, they wouldn't have held it since Monday. Thats the only reason that I feel that no one took it to "hold" for us. Lastly, the photog has been great. She ofcourse feels horrible about this & told me that she would definitely re-make the album & resend it and the disc. I just feel bad that she may be doing this at her expense. While she opened the investigation with UPS she mentioned that usually they insure packages up to about $100 but she's not too sure that they will reimburse her in this case because according to them, the package was technically "delivered" & it wouldn't necessarily be their "fault" if someone stole it from my door. We'll see what happens with that. I mentioned to the rep at UPS that these were wedding photos & she was extremely sympathetic so I hope she finds that as an acceptable reason to reimburse my photog. So thats the update that I have so far. I think I held up okay during the day but as soon as I got home, got off of the elevator & approached my door, my heart sank again when I didn't see the package at the door. I keep hoping that everytime I come & go, that it will "magically" appear at the door, unopened! Today I plan on staying home & hoping that UPS comes by. If so, I plan on asking the driver if he actually left the package at my door & not someone else's. I also plan on asking the porter if he possibly has any unclaimed packages. Again, thanks for all of your thoughts & support.

I have been crying all morning so bear with me if I am all over the place with this vent. I had been talking to Yamille about our BD albums. We were trying to figure out if & when they shipped. She told me that she received her album on Monday. That prompted me to ask our photog about my album. Well I wake up this morning to an email from her saying that my album shipped on Friday & was DELIVERED on Monday. Needless to say it's not in my possession. So I instantly start to panic. She gives me the tracking #, I look it up & sure enough it says delivered. It actually says that it was left at my front door. Now this isn't unusual. Our UPS guy ALWAYS leaves packages at our door if we're not home & we ALWAYS get them without incident. So this stumps me. I call UPS & ask them to verify everything, which they do. I tell the rep that although it says delivered, I haven't received the package. She tells me that my only recourse is to go back to the sender, have the sender call them & they will start an investigation. Fine. I do all of that. For some reason, I call UPS back to ask them something else when I notice that the rep is calling me by another name. I ask her to verify the shipping name & she tells me it has my first name, but a different last name. For a minute, this explains why I may not have actually received the package. But then the package had my shipping address which included my correct apartment #, so although my name didn't exactly match, I still should have gotten the package. I've had packages shipped to me with my maiden name before & I've always received those so thats why I know the name doesn't make too much of a difference as long as my apt # is on there. And not for nothing, the status is still "delivered". So even though my name may not have been correct, there is no one else in my building who has the "wrong" last name that was on the package. Anyway, to make a long story short, my BD album & disc with ALL OF MY PICS is MIA! I don't know how to contain myself. I made it to work and as soon as I got here I was a crying mess. Then DH calls to wish my happy bday & I'm in tears. He ofcourse wants to know whats wrong. So now I SOOO want to tell him but I just CAN'T. I don't want to ruin the surprise for him. I embellish the truth by telling him the story but by telling him that its simply a package, a gift that I ordered for him for our anniversary, like a watch. I had to tell him something!!! We're supposed to be going out to dinner tonight to celebrate my bday but I really dont think I'm up to it. Since DH thinks the missing package is simply a watch or something, he can't understand why I'm "this" upset since "there's nothing that I can do about it"....If he only knew!!! I'm sure that when I tell him the story behind this in June, he'll understand why I was "this" upset. So someone, somewhere, has my album & disc. I don't know who the hell it is but I'm sick. The only thing that keeps me sane right now is that at least the pictures are tasteful and at least I wasn't totally naked in any of them. Again, this only makes me feel 1% better, the other 99% of me is torn up! I'm telling you ladies this because at least I know that you can understand given the sensitive nature. I'm also telling you this to prevent this from happening to you. For those of you who are having albums & pictures sent to your home from the photographer, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE take extra precautions. Verify/double check your shipping name & address. Make sure that you are advised as to when they ship, you get a tracking #, and you get a firm delivery date so that you know when exactly when to expect them. If you know that you aren't likely to be home, send them someplace where you know a friend or family member can receive the package & sign for it. All I can hope for right now is that the package suddenly appears at my door or that it gets returned back to the photographer. I know these are long shots but I will keep hoping this until I'm out of denial.

Very, very hot!!! I love them all but my favs are the first one & the one with the pearls! Everyone is absolutely right, Tyler will be at a loss for words I'm sure! Glad that you did it!!!!

That really is horrible. I hope that you get everything resolved quickly & without any additional stress!

Desiree, you'll be FINE! You'll be a little nervous going in but trust me, after you get into things & the day goes on, you'll find yourself having so much fun & not wanting to leave. So try to relax, have fun, go with the flow, have a drink or 2 & just think of Tyler's face when he opens up that album!!

There was a past ROR bride whose mother made the cake before hand & brought it with her to the resort & assembled it on the day of. I can't for the life of me remember who it was or how she stored it, but I know that lots of us were pretty amazed that her mother was able to do that. I agree with Monique & wouldn't chance shipping a cake myself. Anything could happen & the last thing you'd want is to not have the cake on the day of your wedding. Take some time to read some past reviews of ROR weddings & see if you can find the review that I'm talking about. Maybe it will shed some light on how you can go about bringing the cake yourself. Maybe some local bakeries can tell you how this would work if you chose to do it that way.

Glad to hear that you enjoyed ROR as much as you did! Your entire party looked great, especially in white! And I loved the colors of the parasols. You really did a great thing by posting the virtual tour of ROR. I am sure that will be extremely helpful to the future brides! Your review made me realize how much I can't wait to return in about 30 days! Congrats again!

Everything looks great! Your dress looks beautiful!!! Also, love the shot glasses & salt shakers. Now bring on the pro pics! LOL

You really did a great job with everything!!! I especially love your reception shoes & the "I DO" on the back of them. Also love your OOT bags. Your ceremony site looked amazing as well. Can't wait to see how it all came together in your pics!

While I only used Photoshop for my video, I've never heard of this happening with any BDW ROR brides who used Michael/Photoshop. I would think that as long as you are purchasing the disc with "full printing rights" that there should not be a stamp/logo on those pictures. If no other BDW ROR bride has info on this, I'd suggest simply sending Michael an email & confirming this directly with him. Maybe the person who wrote the review on Trip Advisor was mistaken & they did not purchase a disc with full printing rights. If this were the case, considering how many BDW ROR brides there are, I'm sure that we would have heard about this practice a long time ago.

Oh you're going to have a great time. We always go for the Essence Music Festival & we usually stay at the Maison Dupuy which is in the French Quarter. I agree that you should definitely consider hotels in the French Quarter. While the Intercontinental isn't in the French Quarter, DH has stayed there in the past & liked it. In terms of food, you must, must, must go to Brennan's for breakfast or brunch. If you like Banana's Foster that is the place to try it. Cafe DuMonde is also a must. If you like coffee & beignets you'll love it there! I also agree with the Commanders Palace & Mothers. In the past, the line to get into Mothers is crazy long so make sure you research that to see if the lines are still long. I almost forgot, The Court of Two Sisters!!! Oh man, you have to go there too! I loved it there! You are sooo making me want to go this year! Oh, gotta go to Pat O'briens & have a hurricane! In terms of tours, if you're into aquariums there's the Aquarium of the America's. If you're into trying your luck at gambling I think Harrah's has a casino. And ofcourse you can also go on a river cruise or on a Plantation tour. You can also try the House of Blues. Sometimes they have live entertainment. You can always check to see whats going on there at night.

Quote: Originally Posted by Kits55 Thanks for the review of the leather album; I was thinking of possibly going that route for my parent's album. I really love the hardcover book too! No problem. I thought that the leather album was going to be the best but the binding was TOO TIGHT! We couldn't even open the album because the binding was so tight that the inside of the front cover was going to rip. Obviously we had to open it & as we did, it started to rip right down the middle. The one thing that I can say is that their customer service is excellent! I sent them an email explaining what happened with the leather album & they quickly sent me a new coupon code for a new album of my choice, which covered all of my costs. So even if you think you want to take a chance & order the leather album, if you're not happy with the outcome, definitely contact them & let them know.

Love them! The colors are sure to make your pictures pop!

I just googled this to find out what your options are. Here is one site that I found. The Jamaican flag garter is the last one on the page: National Flag Wedding Garters I also checked Etsy. Alot of BDW brides have used Etsy sellers for custom garters. If no one gives you a personal recommendation of a seller that they worked with, I'm sure you can find one from the search below: custom wedding garter on Etsy, a global handmade and vintage marketplace. Good Luck!

Ok Amarillis, you truly rock! You are sooo on the case. Just as I finished looking at Miranda's planning thread, I was on my way to google the bra bag! Thanks for the inspiration Miranda & thanks for finding the site Amarillis!

Those are absolutely beautiful MarieSam! The colors of your bouquet are amazing! Your family shouldn't have a bad thing to say at all!

You did a great job with everything! Love the shoes & OOT bags. Can't wait to see how it all comes together in the pics! Have an amazing time!

Glad that you liked them! I love them too. I used them to make several copies of our wedding album & gave them to our parents as gifts. I've gotten the classic hardcover & the leather album. The leather album I didn't quite like but the hardcover is excellent quality! I'll definitely be using them for my BD album.

I decided to google this & these ideas came up. Hopefully they are not too corny for you! A Man’s Guide to Anniversary Planning How to Celebrate your Anniversary First Anniversary Ideas and Gifts How cute, personalized M&M's! I would never have thought of that idea for an anniversary: My M&M's® - Personalized Anniversary Candy Message Gifts Anyway, I hope that these helped in some way since I couldn't think of anything else more creative!

Like everyone else has said, relax & enjoy the day! It goes by sooo fast! I'm sure that everything will go smoothly & trust me, you are in great hands with Chandlyn. Congratulations!

Is returning to the location of your DW possible? Or what about a weekend getaway? What about a spa date? Next month we are returning to Jamaica with family & friends who were there with us for the wedding & we will celebrate our 1 year anniversary then. Since we knew we weren't going back to Jamaica until June, we took advantage of a great sale & booked a cruise that sailed 1 week before our anniversary. On the actual day of our anniversary, I surprised DH & booked us a couples massage at a spa. I figured a couples massage would be a great treat for both of us. After our massage we were able to lounge around the spa & enjoy their sauna's/steam rooms & hot tubs. It was a very relaxing & quiet day. After that we went to lunch & that was about it. What exactly did you have in mind & are you trying to surprise DW or are you both planning this together? Okay, I'm editing this cuz I just looked & saw that you were married in Cancun so I'm thinking that a return to MX wouldn't be on your agenda right now due to the swine flu scare. But a trip someplace else you guys always wanted to go would also be a great surprise, even if its just for the weekend.

Quote: Originally Posted by scottgm2 I would like ideas on what to put in your oot bags Do a search for OOT bags & you should find alot of information. Here's one thread to get you started: http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t35759

Again, beautiful! Love the first one with your shirt! And you used Robin! YAY!

Great job! Those will definitely look good on the table! And you can't beat the price!

Very sexy! I also love that they look so natural & agree that the tie/glasses shots are just too cute! I'm glad that this worked out for you!